Hero of Woods
by SubZeroChimera
Summary: Since ancient times, Hyrule has always been protected by a hero. However, evil has again begun to fall upon this holy land, and a new problem has presented itself. Just where is the hero? Rated T to be safe, but probably closer to K . Slow updates. ON TEMPORARY HIATUS.
1. Youth I

Okay, guys, I'm sorry but I couldn't resist! This idea has been building up for a while, and I dare say that it's a real shame to keep it hidden away for any longer. So, now I present to you The Legend of Zelda; Hero of Woods!

MINOR EDIT okay people, for some reason, this story doesn't want to do my normal 'breaks' for me, so this time around I'll be using lines and Xs.

* * *

_Since ancient times, Hyrule has always been protected by a hero. However, evil has again begun to fall upon this holy land, and a new problem has presented itself._

_Just _where is_ the hero?_

x x x x x x x x

A group of travellers gazed warily at the forest surrounding them. Trees obscured the light shining down on horses, wagons and people alike. Various objects were hidden in sheaths and beside saddles. A mare reared its head, snorting worriedly. A stray gust of wind shot through a branch, rattling the leaves.

A woman around the age of forty glanced at the offending limb. Its actions died down immediately, as if it feared her cold gaze. The sentiment was shared by many of the occupants of the Caravan.

The woman was a Sheikah by the name of Impa. She was, by royal decree, the guardian and nurse of the young princess she now turned her vision to. Seeing nothing wrong, she looked ahead. Her long silver bangs, split down the middle to fall to either side of her face, followed her, with the exception of the small, untamed ones that curled at the top of her forehead.

At the front of the convoy, a man regal beyond imagination raised his hand, stopping the convoy.

"Impa!" he commanded.

The Sheikah kicked the sides of her horse, urging it past the two-score soldiers between the back of the column and the king. She stopped at the king's side, giving a small, strict bow of her head to show her respect.

"Your majesty..."

"Impah," he asked, gazing around the woods, "something is wrong with this forest. Would you agree?"

Impa nodded her head. "Yes, sire. We are in the heart of the Lost Woods."

An audible whimper arose from one of the guards, "_The_ Lost Woods!? The home of monsters!?"

Impa gave the man a harsh glare for his insolence. He quieted immediately. It was a rumour among the soldiers that she'd sent an entire squad of bokoblins running with her trademark gaze. Just beyond the range of the Sheikah's sharp hearing, the other soldiers had begun to gossip in earnest.

"The Lost Woods? I've heard that anyone who enters is lost forever!"

"There are supposed to be enough monsters in here to cover the entirety of Hyrule field! And they attack without warning!"

"There are supposed to be countless Deku Scrubs here, so many that every single bush is actually a Deku!"

The babbling continued. A small, strong voice suddenly picked up, hushing the crowd once again.

"I heard there are Kokiri!"

The king, Impah, and the queen, who rode quietly at the king's side, all looked back to the source of the noise. Princess Zelda, no older than three, stood boldly beside her maid's horse.

Impa shook her head, smiling ever-so-faintly. "Dear Zelda, there are no such things as Kokiri. They are, I am afraid, just a fairytale. A good one at that, though. And speaking of _fairy tales_..." Impa suddenly turned to the troop behind her, frowning, "What is with all your idle chatter! It's true that the Lost Woods has monsters, but there's no need to be so afraid of it! Like little children, all of you! Stay to the path, and you will not be lost. Do not attack the monsters, and they will not attack you. Do I need to make myself any clearer?!"

The soldiers sat bolt upright, saluting and _yes ma'am_ing her. The king smiled, waving for his men to continue.

"You heard the Sheikah, men. Onward!"

x x x

Later on, the group had set up camp for the night. A gentle breeze stirred the leaves, the thick trunks of the woods providing cover at the clearing's perimeter. Tents were set up, fires were lit, and men sat around in circles telling wild tales and ghost stories about the woods they were currently in. Darkness pervaded the majority of the small view of the sky allowed by the clearing, grass trampled flat by the horses who currently fed upon it. A ring of thick bushes surrounded the clearing.

Hidden by the thick foliage, a pair of bright, gleaming eyes stared curiously at the proceedings of the men. These people did not come from the forest, and a sight like this was rare indeed.

The blue eyes, more intense than the clearest of skies, swept the camp, eager for information about the newcomers. He'd followed them from beside the path, always out of sight. He knew he really shouldn't have, but... the new people were so exciting!

The boy shuffled in his position. He stretched out a bit further, his stomach flat against the thick branch of the tree. He grinned, giggling ever so slightly. This was fun!

Laughter erupted from a group of men nearby. The boy ducked his head quickly, slowly raising it again. Seeing that they had not spotted him, he continued his surveillance of the camp.

Then he spotted her. Beyond the sight of the "scary lady", as he'd so dubbed the woman with white hair, was a little girl who looked barely the age of three. She was the youngest of the party, it seemed, and she had somehow escaped from the scary lady's watchful gaze. The eyes scanned the camp. Ah, that's how she'd done it; the lady was preoccupied with the overly dressed man, talking about something in that weird, gibberish language. How they understood each other when they talked like that was beyond him. But, whatever the red-robed man was saying must have been quite important, since the scary lady was listening quite intently.

The boy looked back at the girl. She had moved on from sneaking away from the lady, and was now playing with a bush at the edge of the clearing. The boy squinted. Wait... that bush had berries! And not the good kind!

Dropping down from the tree, the boy ran to where the girl was, not making a sound. Any other person might have made a terrible racket running like that, but for some reason there wasn't even the snapping of a twig or the crunch of a leaf to betray his presence. He arrived unnaturally quickly at the spot where the girl was. He was on the other side of the bush, and with a quick inspection proved his fear; these were poisonous berries. At best, you would get a horrible tummy-ache from these, but he had a sinking feeling that the girl on the other side of the bush would receive much, much worse.

"Hey, don't eat those, they're icky," he whispered to her. It startled the girl into dropping a handful of the berries.

"Huh? Who said that?" she asked, searching for the source of the voice.

"Shh! Not so loud, the grown-ups will hear!"

Zelda blinked, looking at the bush. Too young to know any better, she began to talk to it, "Oh? I'm sorry Mr. Bush, are you shy? I'll be quiet!"

He smirked, "No, I'm not a bush! Anyways, you don't want to eat those berries, they're gross. Bleh."

"Are they? How would you know?"

The boy popped his head through the bush, "Cause I have a friend who ate 'em once. They're icky icky berries, trust me."

"Oh!" Zelda was surprised for a moment at his appearance, then regained her composure. "Are you... a Kokiri?"

The Green-clad boy glanced around the camp, making sure their conversation as private. He held a finger to his lips, "Maybe. But don't tell no one, 'kay?"

"Kay! I promise!" she smiled entirely too eagerly, which made the Kokiri wonder how long she'd manage to remember that she had even made such a promise. He shrugged it off.

"You want some really good berries?" he asked.

The girl's eyes widened, "Oh! Oh, yeah! I love berries! Yes please, sir!" she smiled and curtsied, mimicking what she'd been told to do many, many times before.

He blushed, "Aw, don' go calling me sir, makes me feel funny. Now follow me, I'll show you some real good berries!" He dusked back behind the bush, lightly jogging towards another berry bush closer to the soldiers in the camp. Zelda followed as best as she could, staying within the clearing. Small, agile fingers rustled the bushes ever-so-slightly as he went, allowing the girl to follow him without having to go into the forest itself. Soon enough, they were at another berry bush, laden with juicy berries that were sweet and, best of all, not poisonous.

Zelda preoccupied herself quite heartily with the berries, juice occasionally squirting onto her face. "Thank you, sir!" she called to the boy.

But the boy was long gone, back into the perch in the tree, to avoid being seen by others.

x x x x x x x x

Impa finished her discussion with the king. Three seconds later, she realized that she'd made a grave mistake. Zelda was gone! She searched frantically for her, her heart in her throat. Oh dear, what if something had happened-!

Her terror lasted about ten seconds before it turned into annoyance. There was Zelda, clear as day near the end of the clearing, where she'd been explicitly told _not_ to go. And, worse yet, her face was a veritable canvas for assorted gushes of berry juice.

"Young lady, _what_ have I told you about getting yourself into a mess? And from eating berries, at that! What would we have done if they were poisonous, hmm?!"

Zelda was grabbed roughly by her hand and almost dragged back to camp. "When your mother sees you like this-!"

"I saw a Kokiri, Impa!" Zelda cried out happily.

Nearby, the boy visibly winced. Not more than three minutes and she'd forgotten her promise. Why oh why couldn't she have forgotten seeing him, instead of forgotten her promise, huh?

Apparently, this made no difference to the scary lady, "There's no such thing as Kokiri, Zelda."

"But I saw one! I did!"

"Making excuses now, are we? Wait until your father hears about this!"

"Impaaaaaa!"

The boy fought back a chortle. Well, not like it mattered. The girl was young enough that she would forget completely about this incident a few years later. Her mind was good for her age, but not good enough to keep a memory that long. He jumped down from the branch. Well, he'd had his fun tonight. He left the camp, running back into the mysterious trees of the Lost Woods.

Halfway back to his destination, another child, female, appeared out of thin air.

"Were you spying on the path again?"

The boy blushed, guiltily shuffling his feet. "Aheheheh..."

"Deku tree might actually get mad at you this time. You know we Kokiri aren't supposed to be seen by anybody, right?"

"Saria, why is that?"

"Beats me. C'mon, let's get back," Saria smiled before she hopped off the stump and raced further into the forest. She turned, just about to dash through a bush, and called to him.

"C'mon, Link! Don't be such a slowpoke!"

Link gave one last look at the direction of the camp. Then he looked at where Saria had disappeared.

"Coming!"


	2. Youth II

Disclaimer; all Legend of Zelda characters mentioned in this chapter do not belong to me.

A/N – Hey, guys! Just to let you know, this chapter, and probably the ones coming up, may seem a bit slow at the time. Please bear with me; the action will happen soon enough. The problem is, I've got several ideas running around in my head, but they all require that I introduce a few characters first.

* * *

Seven years had passed since that day in the forest. Zelda was not the only one who'd forgotten it.

Link pushed a rock around with a stick, the rough bark leaving slight marks on the gloves he wore. It was mildly interesting, being a rock; such a sight was uncommon in the forest. The stick made a clacking, scraping noise every time he hit the stone.

Link was again in the depths of the Lost Woods, further away from the village than most Kokiri ever dared to go. It wasn't unusual for him, nor was it unsafe. The Kokiri were just very shy and secretive, preferring to stay in or around their homes. Ever since some incident long ago, they had disappeared off the face of Hyrule, and had sworn themselves to some sort of secrecy.

Quite frankly, only the denizens of the forest even knew they existed.

Daylight was barely able to struggle through the trees, the thick canopy blocking out most light and sound. Thick trunks reached for the sky, their branches too high up to spot. Fog radiated out from where Link stood, hiding everything beyond a certain distance. Leaves were scatted on the forest floor. They crunched under Link's boots as his stick kept hitting the rounded stone with sounds like_ tack_ and _chik_.

The complex patterns of the bark on the trees went unnoticed by the lone Kokiri. The only Kokiri who would ever dare to set foot this deep into the forest. Even many monsters stayed away, at least the less courageous ones.

No fairy lit up Link's path as he kept hitting the stone with his stick, _chak tack scrape_. Although he looked twelve, the same age as most of the older Kokiri, he was still too young for a fairy. Every Kokiri got a fairy at the age of one hundred; he still had a little ways to go.

_Preck_.

_Chik_.

_CRACK_.

The stone was launched a good foot forwards. Link frowned at his sick, which had suddenly decided to split right down the middle. He waved it around irritatingly. Something rustled ever-so-slightly ahead of him.

Looking up, Link saw the wolfos emerge from the gloom. It growled, very softly, at him. It wasn't threatening him, no, monsters of the forest would never threaten a Kokiri. The monsters of the forest thought of the Kokiri as sacred, and would never harm them. Wolfos, however, were less tolerant of them than most.

It growled again, slightly louder, warning him that it didn't want him to go any further in. Her dugs hung low. It probably had pups that it was protecting.

Pups were cute. They growled and yelped in the most endearing way. But wolfos were very protective of their pups. One Kokiri, Link forgot who, had accidentally stumbled on some once. The father wolfos had promptly grabbed him with his jaws, brought him back to the village, and unceremoniously dumped him right in the middle of it. Wolfos didn't hurt Kokiri. They could, however, give them a right scare.

"Sorry, ma'am, didn't mean to intrude," Link apologized, bowing. He grabbed his rock and turned to leave.

"Hmph," responded the wolfos, "just don't do it again."

Link left. That was one thing about Kokiri and monsters; they spoke the same language (quite handy, really). Any outsider would think it was just a bunch of growls, grunts or gibberish, depending on which monster spoke it. But, it was still a language. The Wild Tongue, as it was called. A language shared amongst "uncivilized", sentient races, and the occasional intelligent animal, a language that focused on emotion and intent instead of elaborate words and phrases. Kokiri may look like Hylians, but they lived among creatures of the woods, and spoke the same way they did. In fact, it was rare to find a Kokiri who knew any other language.

The Kokiri were just a much a wild race as the Deku, wolfos, fairies, and anything else that lived beyond the boundaries of the known world.

But, unlike the other races, they were innocent. And for this, they were thought of as sacred. All the forest monsters protected them if they were in danger, and left them alone if spotted. Well, some of them did. Others thought they were omens of extremely good luck, and might celebrate a spotting of them. Or, they might just play with them, as if they were another of their own race. It all depended on the monsters themselves.

Link dropped his stick fragments. Neither of the two pieces was long enough to continue his game, so he invented a new one instead. Tossing the rock up and down, he threw it as high as he could, then raced to catch it wherever it fell. Only mildly entertaining, to be honest, but it was good enough. He wasn't as social as other Kokiri; he didn't need big groups of people around to be entertained.

Unless, of course, they were big groups of adults coming into the woods.

But, that was a though for another time. No adults had passed through the woods in months, and who could blame them? They only ever passed in big groups. Any single one that lost their way became a stalfos or stalkin. And if their kids got lost, they would become skull children. The older they were, the more likely they were to become the skeletal monsters that dragged their bony bodies out of the woods, burying themselves in dirt to ambush travellers at night. Anyone that became a monster in the woods was weak to the light of day outside of the forest. Why the Stalfos and Stalkin wanted to leave it so much was beyond him.

Eh. Whatever.

The rock hit a branch with a clunk, falling straight down onto Link's head.

"Ow!"

He rubbed his sore skull, glaring at the rock. He decided that he didn't want to play with it anymore, so he kicked it away and started to wander again. What he wasn't expecting was a response.

"Ow!"

Link turned around, blinking at the spot where he'd kicked the rock. A skull kid emerged from behind an oak, massaging his shin.

"Are you following me?" Link asked.

"I was," replied the skull kid, "but I guess I didn't do a very good job of it, did I?"

They both giggled. Link didn't really mind that he was being followed. All the same, he wondered, "Why were you following me?"

"'Cause I was curious. I didn't have anything better to do, either."

"I know that feeling all too well!" Link grinned.

"Ah hah hah hah!" The skull kid laughed, his beak clacking merrily. Wait, beak?

"Hey, don't most Skull Kids have mouths? You've got a beak!" Link noticed.

He shuffled nervously, "Yeah, I got a beak, so what? I use to be a Ri... a Ri... Reto? Rito? I dunno. But I got a beak, so if you're gonna make fun of me for it, then just get it over with!" he snorted angrily.

"Why would I make fun of you?" Link's head angled to the side curiously, his brilliant blue eyes wide and friendly.

"Everyone else does..."

"My name isn't 'Everyone Else', so again, why should I make fun of you?"

The skull kid seemed confused, shaking his head in wonderment. This caused his wide brimmed hat, which looked like a witch's hat made out of straw (with a little excess left at the top) to rustle. "Uhm... 'cause I'm a weirdo?"

"Weirdo? I'm a weirdo too, didn't 'cha know? I run off on my own all the time, and I do it alone! I'm a weirdo!"

"Weirdo, weirdo!"

"Weirdo, weirdo!"

The two giggled and ran in circles, poking and tickling each other whenever they got near, yelling, "Weirdo, weirdo!" aloud. It was a game!

Eventually though, the game came to an end. They both flopped to the ground beside each other, panting.

"So," started the skull kid, "if your name isn't 'Everyone Else', what is it?"

"Link! What's yours?"

The skull kid seemed to deflate a bit, "Uhm... We skull kids usually don't have names..."

"Oh? Do you need one then?" Link offered.

"Nope, I'm okay. I made myself one up a long time ago... no one likes it though, but I bet they're just jealous 'cause they didn't think of it themselves!"

"Oh? What's your name then?" asked the Kokiri, leaning forwards.

"Stall!"

"Stall?"

"Yeah, Stall! Do you like it?"

Link nodded. Stall seemed pleased. He jumped up, his hat and clothes rustling with their extra fabric, "Yay! You like it!"

"Why wouldn't I? C'mon Stall! Let's play!"

"Okay!"

The pair started running randomly, giggling and jumping around. They played two-person-tag, chased each other, and hid behind trees, flitting between them effortlessly all the while. Their footsteps made no sound, only their joyous cries echoing through the imposing trees. Stall suddenly stopped, glancing up at a gnarled tree that stood out from the rest of them.

"Hey, look, plums!"

Link skidded to a halt, leaving a noticeable trail of dug-up leaves, "Plums? Oh! Plums are tasty!"

The skull kid jumped around eagerly, "Darn, the plums are all up high in the branches! I guess I gotta climb!"

He scooted up the tree, arriving at the first batch of plums. Link stood below, watching as Stall started eating, "Hey Stall, throw me a few down!" Stall obliged, throwing him three rather small looking fruit. Link ate them, but frowned when he finished, "Uck! They're all sour! Aren't there any better ones?"

Stall finished licking his fingers, having ravenously eaten all the plums within his reach, "Yeah, but they're all going to be sour, too. The nice ones are too far out, I'd break the branches and fall!"

Link smirked, reaching into a small pouch at his side, "Where, exactly?"

Stall pointed. Link focused, barely able to see the fruit from his position on the ground. They tempted him from just beyond the veil of fog, but once he spotted them, he took his hand out of his pouch. A Kokiri pouch, to be exact, one of the most well-kept and valuable secrets of the forest. An item able to hide any number of objects in its small size, no matter how big or how varied. What Link drew out now was one of his favourite things, a slingshot he'd crafted less than a year ago.

"What's that?" Stall asked.

Link answered by putting a small deku seed into it from another (less useful but still valuable) pouch at his other side. He pulled back the slingshot's string then let it go in the same instance, striking the branch just before the plums. The heavy, succulent fruit dropped from the wildly swaying limb, and Link caught them just before they hit the ground.

Stall dropped from the tree, "Wow, a slingshot! So cool! I've wanted one of those since, like, forever!"

Link proudly showed off the fruit, his slingshot dangling from his right hand, "And look what I got!"

The Skull Kid looked pleadingly at the bundle of fruit, so Link obliged him by giving him a generous half. They scarfed down the fruit, but it was gone all too soon.

"I'm still hungry..." complained Link, absently tossing the pits to the side.

"Yeah, me too..." sighed the skull kid. Then he perked up, "Hey, Link, if I point out some more good plums to you, and you shoot them down so we can eat them, can you make me a slingshot too?"

Link thought about it for a second, but only one. Heck, why not make him a slingshot? It's not like he had anything better to do!

"Yeah, sure!"

So they set their plan in motion, a few plums dropping to the ground and squishing before either of them could do anything about it. Eventually they had a huge pile between them. They ate until they were full, leaving only a few untouched.

They moved away, finding a tree with a hollow at its base. Stall took a nap while Link found some wood, fashioning it into a proper slingshot. He was just putting the finishing touches to it when he realized that he had a small problem.

They didn't have anything to use for the string!

He shook Stall awake, telling him of the problem. They resolved to explore, looking for something elastic enough. A vine, perhaps? Or a stem? Nothing seemed to work.

The forest was slowly becoming darker, shadows elongating at a regular pace. Link noticed this. "Aw man, it's getting dark... I'll have to go home soon."

Stall was upset, "But we didn't find a string, yet! And how will I find you again? Skull kids don't go into Kokiri village!"

"Why?"

"I dunno, we just don't. I think it's a rule; we've gotta leave the Kokiri alone if they're in their village."

"Aww man..." Link sighed. They kept searching for a string, but Link made sure they were heading towards his home so that he wouldn't be out too late. That, and he wanted to make sure he was there in time to hear the Great Deku Tree's bedtime story. He usually missed those, but he liked to try and hear them anyways.

As they walked, bushes became more prevalent. What little light there was left in the day was able to appear through the increasingly larger gaps in the forest's ceiling, the colour of the woods became more earthy and friendly as the fog faded away. Greenery became more prevalent, and every now and then some sort of crude structure, like a ladder or fence, peeked out from under years worth of unchecked growth.

Link and Stall walked out of a tunnel made from a giant, old tree's bark, finding themselves on some sort of raised ledge. Stall stopped, looking at a peculiar hunk of wood suspended from a tree just beyond the edge of the raised chunk of rock.

"Hey, what's that?

Link looked over. It was a disc of wood, its rings denoting it to be of an average age for a tree. However, the tree had been felled sometime in the past, a part of it cut horizontally and tied to another tree's broken branch.

"I bet you couldn't hit it from here," taunted Stall.

Link took him up on that offer, hitting the center of the wood.

"Oh, oh, do that again, that was cool!" Stall smiled.

"Yah mon, do eet agin!"

Link blinked, surprised. From the center of the tree, a bush suddenly stood up, rattling its leaves excitedly, "Come on, mon! Heet eet another whack!"

Link obliged, hitting the target dead-center three more times. Both Stall and the bush, which wasn't a bush at all but a Deku Scrub, were cheering their heads off.

"Excellent mon, excellent!"

"That's so cool, Link! I wish I could do that!"

The Deku Scrub turned to Stall, "Well, why not, mon? Give it a shot!"

Stall scuffled his feet, "I would, but I haven't got a slingshot of my own! Link here tried to make me one, but we couldn't find a string for it..."

The Deku seemed apologetic, "Aww mon, that really don't work, mon." He brightened up, "Tell you what, mon, you're bud here deed such a good job shootin', I think you two deserve a goodie!"

The Deku scuttled over to the center of the tree, disappearing into the apparently hollow trunk. He reappeared moments later.

"Get ready to catch, mon!"

He puffed up his wooden cheeks, spitting a small bundle at Link. Link caught it, unravelling it. It was a large bag for holding deku seeds, and inside it was a deku vine, stretchy and ready to tie to a slingshot!"

"Wow, thanks mister!" Link tied the string to the slingshot, giving it to Stall. He also gave Stall his smaller deku seed bag, since it was full of seeds, "Now, it's your turn! Go ahead, shoot the target!"

Stall jumped with glee. His first few attempts at hitting the target were off by a long shot, but as he got more used to the thing, some of his seeds started hitting the wood, "Yay, look at me, I'm hitting it! I'm hitting it!" he squealed.

"Them's the stuff, mon!" encouraged the Deku. The trio played some more for a while. Eventually, though, it started to get late. Link noticed this.

"Hey guys, sorry, but I have to go."

Stall whined, his happy mood gone, "But... but... how will I find you again! We can't be done playing already! I... I still gotta learn how to use this slingshot better!"

Link smiled, his intense blue eyes relaxing the Skull Kid, "Don't worry! We can just meet again here tomorrow! That way, you and me and... uh," he turned to the Deku, "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

The deku chortled, "It's Bumper, mon, the sharp-shootin' Deku!" He emphasized his point by shooting several seeds in different directions.

"Okay, then, tomorrow you and me and Bumper can all meet back here, and we can work on our sharp-shooting skills some more! That's okay with you all, right?"

The other nodded their agreement. They all said their good-byes for the night before Link left into another of the bark-ringed tunnels.

By the time he'd gotten back to the Kokiri home turf, the last rays of the sun were just disappearing over the top of the forest. Link scrambled down the vine leading to the village consisting of old trees, tree houses, and giant, carved-out stumps. Decorative paints were plastered onto some of the houses in zig-zagging, circular, or even dotted patterns, the paints made from combining certain roots and mud. It was another way of proclaiming whose house was whose, apart from the signs the Kokiri had put in front of them. Link ran to a crack in the rock surrounding the clearing, hoping he hadn't missed yet another of the Great Deku Tree's stories. Alas, as he arrived in the tree's meadow, the older children were just getting up, picking up some of the younger children who had fallen asleep. Link groaned, but went forwards anyways.

Mido, Link's self-proclaimed rival, sneered as he walked past, "Oi, look who just showed up!"

Mido's best friend (apart from Saria, but who _wasn't_ her friend?) peeked out curiousily from behind his red-headed buddy, "Hi Link! Sorry buddy, you just missed it!"

Link smiled back at the kid, whose orange hair never seemed to abide by the laws of gravity, "That's okay Geer, I had fun anyways!"

Geer bobbed his head in acknowledgement, his star-shaped ponytail shaking doubly so, "Well, that happens. See ya!"

He ran away, Mido grumbling all the while about how his friend was a traitor. Thing is, he didn't stay angry for long, just following his friend out as well as all the other Kokiri. Geer was the friendliest Kokiri of the bunch; apart from his tendency to occasionally fight with someone for no particular reason, he was well-liked by everyone.

Link now stood alone in the clearing. Well, not quite; there was another Kokiri that hadn't quite left yet.

"Hey Link! Sorry, I've gotta go. See you tomorrow!" Saria smiled.

With that, she was off. Link turned to The Great Deku Tree, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, "Heh, sorry Great Deku Tree, I was just a bit late."

Kokiri always visited the Great Deku tree, for two reasons. One, to hear his extravagant stories of times long past, of the legends and lore of Hyrule's best heroes, worst villains, and even of the goddesses themselves. Two, so that the tree could make a roll-call of all the Kokiri. After all, he was very protective of the children, it was his job.

The Deku tree sighed, but a friendly tone was hidden in it, "You showed up, that's all that matters," creaked the ancient Deku. He smiled inwardly; he'd long ago given up trying to get Link to come to the stories on time. Link just didn't keep track of the day's passing as well as other Kokiri. Small wonder when he constantly ventured to the deepest parts of the woods.

"Go to bed now, Link. Sleep well."

"Okay! You too, Great Deku tree!"

Link scampered off, heading towards his home, a treehouse suspended high above the bottom of the hollow where it resided. If it wasn't, he and his stuff would've been soaked every time a great rainfall occurred.

The Great Deku Tree settled its roots, making itself comfortable as stars appeared, twinkling high in the darkening night sky. The birds of the day finished their choirs as the bugs of the night began to sing, their voices rebounding peacefully around the meadow.

He knew this peace was not to last.


	3. Youth III

Heya guys! Long time no see! Welcome back to Hero of Woods! I haven't updated this thing in over a year, and that really doesn't sit well with me. Even though this story is still technically on hiatus, I'm at least gonna throw a bone to my LoZ related fans, however few there are. If any. But, I digress, thank you all for waiting!

* * *

Dawn light broke in through the curtained window, highlighting the gentle golden motes of dust dancing gracefully through the small room. Rays of sunlight landed on a small form, who was sleeping in a bed cut from a log. Covered by a thin but plush blanket, Link slept fitfully, whimpering and muttering against the nightmare that beset him.

_A great monster stood behind a fleeing crowd, everything hidden in shadow. It reached for a faceless girl with a hand that glowed with gold. It had tusks?_

_Dark clouds swirled overhead._

_The girl ran, along with other shadows, some of which had colourful, round things, like flattened stones, around their necks. The stones also glowed, but in a rainbow of colours, and very dim. Still, everything else was a shadow._

_Grey sky, black winds. No faces, no features._

_The group fled to a large, black blob... a forest? Where another group stood, but these were all small. One had a glowing hand in the forest, another a green glowing stone like the others. These glows were very dim, very dim indeed. Asleep?_

_Thunder._

_A man._

_Hair like raging fire, skin burnt a poisoned olive. Sinister smile. Golden eyes. Evil eyes._

_Lightning._

_He reaches towards Link, trying to drag him away. Clutches of evil._

_Flash._

Link sat bolt upright, sweating, his eyes wide open. He panted, trying to ignore the slick feeling of terror and sweat. Shuffling out of bed, he made for the nearby sink. A bucket of spring water on the floor was used to cleanse his face. It was cold, and brought him back to reality and away from that strange nightmare.

He'd been having a lot of those recently, hadn't he?

After grabbing the bucket to refill later, he headed outside. Shifting aside the curtain that served as his door, the little kokiri breathed in a refreshing gust of air as it passed him, carrying with it the serene scent of the deep woods. A quick scramble down the ladder, and then straight back up after a quick visit to the nearby river completed the obligation of refilling the bowl.

Link grabbed a tool, then headed to a patch of vegetables. As one of the older Kokiri, and one of the earlier risers at that, he had the job of tending to the small garden patches scattered across the small village. In the morning at any rate. He set to the chore vigorously, forgetting the nightmare with the rhythmic simplicity of weeding and watering.

Saria trotted up soon after as he was finishing up. Her laughter caught him off guard.

"Hee hee hee! Wow you're slow! I already got my chore done ages ago!" she chimed.

"I just got up, okay? ...There, now I'm done too!" Link got up, running, "race ya!"

Saria huffed, chasing him back to his house. He won, if barely, and Saria gave him a good-natured berating him the whole time he put his tools away. "Cheater! You got a head start! Don't you know how to treat a lady, you're supposed to let them win!"

"Oh shush, you won last time!"

"Only 'cause you let me!"

"So why are ya complaining? I've gotta win too sometimes!"

The pair laughed. Saria grinned widely, "So, you going into the forest again today?"

"Don't I always? Besides, I met some new friends and promised to meet 'em later."

"Okay, awww... oh well. I'll be in my usual spot if you want to come see me!"

"Bye!" Link ran off, waving at Saria as he left. She waved back, before she herself left to get a few things from home.

It was a scant ten minutes before Link was at the appointed spot. Dawn had just barely broken, and early morning light was filtering down through the thick canopy. Soft snores grated through the air from a nearby tree. After searching for the source. Link managed to find Stall, the poor little skull kid having gone to sleep right where they were supposed to meet. Link gently tapped his shoulder.

"Hey... hee~eeey! Are ya awake?" he questioned quietly.

Stall grumbled shifting slightly to stare dolefully at the one disturbing his rest. Then his eyes shot open.

"Link? Link, you came! You actually came- er, I mean, what took you so long, do you have any idea how long I've been waiting-!"

Link frowned, "It's only morning... don't tell me you stayed here all night just to make sure you weren't late?"

Stall looked surprised for a moment, then giggled sheepishly, "Yah, I kinda did... I don't get friends often, so I wanted to make sure I didn't disappoint you. I'm a loner ya see."

Link smirked in understanding, then dropped out of the tree. After a twenty foot fall that would have badly hurt any normal child, he simply dusted himself off and once again looked around the clearing. "Do you think Bumper will get here very soon?"

Stall glanced down, shrugging his shoulders. "I dunno," he stated. Then he too was on the forest floor with a hop. He readjusted his hat, Link chuckling at how it had flopped onto his face.

"Wanna practice with the slingshot 'til he gets here?"

Stall nodded enthusiastically. The early day slowly strengthened into a bright, sunny morning as the two lost themselves in the techniques and targets of using a slingshot. It was when Stall hit Bumper's target dead center that they finally found the location of the quirky Deku.

With a start, Bumper jumped out the well-concealed hollow in the log where he'd first appeared. He danced along the branch, sputtering, "Ooh, whose 'dere, common mon show yeerself- whoo!"

Having only just gotten up, the muddled deku took a rather unplanned tumble off the branch and into the shallow ravine below. Link and Stall smacked each other for not seeing him earlier, then rushed to his aid.

"Oh, you okay?"

"Yeah, you hurt or anything?"

Bumper shook his leaves, giving the pair the deku version of a smile. "I'm okay leetle mons, just a wee bit stumpified is all! Ah'll bee right as rain soon enuff!"

Stall cocked his head, "Stumpified?"

"Ah Deku term, nothin' ta worry about!"

"Okay! Hee hee!" twittered the skull kid, obviously amused at Bumper's odd term. Link turned to their bushy friend, confused.

"Why did you take so long to get here?"

"Ah been here the hool taime, mon! Ah live here!"

"Don't worry Link, he was just being lazy and not getting up." Stall poked the Deku, who had stood up and was puffing indignantly at the skull kid's revelation.

"Ooh gerrof eet you leetle reep! Is not mah fault ah'm not a mornin' person, mon!"

This only caused the skull kid to guffaw harder. Bumper then began threatening to show him sharp shooting the hard way, and Link wasn't sure whether to help out or laugh at Stall's comically outraged expression. He finally decided to help, and grabbed the two to keep them from going further.

"Hey, enough of that you two! Weren't we going to practice sharpshooting today?"

"Yeah mon! Let's get to eet!"

Stall crossed his arms, "But we've been sharpshooting all morning! I've hit everything remotely resembling a target in this clearing already. Can't we go somewhere else?" he pouted.

Bumper tried suggesting a few places, but stall refused on the grounds that most of the spots were boring. The deku never really strayed too far from his house and so didn't know any more places, but Link perked up. "Hey, how about that really big path or whatever? It might have a few neat trees or something to shoot at."

The others looked at him, then brightened up. "You mean that path that the _adults_ use?" Stall inquired suspiciously.

"Yeah, that one! They don't come very often, so it's probably safe! And sometimes they leave cool stuff behind! Colourful stuff!"

"Ooh, ooh! That stooff is ah great thing ta use fer a target, mon! It's easy ta see, good idea!"

And with that, the group was decided. Leading the group was Link, who tramped through the bushes carefully so as not to hurt any plants. Stall and Bumper were close behind him, conversing on the kinds of things they'd seen the "adults" drop. Bumper had mentioned about something called a rupee, and had mentioned how shiny it was. Stall had instantly demanded to know more, and then began on a tirade about how he'd heard of the outsiders using enchanted bottles that never broke, and how much he'd wanted to have one for ages, and so on and so forth. Link had offered a comment every now and then, but was more concerned with finding the path. Noon breezes had just begun to blow when the trio happened across a thick hedge of bushes, which appeared to grow in a linear formation.

"Here we go guys! We've gotta shush now in case there are any grownups."

"But ah'm a grown up!"

"I mean the outsiders, sorry," Link corrected. As they were all denizens of the forest, each of the trio was wary of those who lived outside of it. They took great care when approaching the bushes, since they all knew that the path lay on the other side. It was one of the few safe ways for non-residents to traverse the woods, as the properties of the Lost Woods themselves defied explanation. Normally, as Link had said, there wouldn't be any travelers on the path. However, today was different.

The group had climbed a tree to peek at the path, and it was then that they heard the voices. Jumping out of the tree was out of the question, so they huddled in amongst the branches. The voices grew louder, and the skull kid lifted himself slightly to listen as the conversations drifted through the verdance. He was the only one who understood what was being said, and so translated after receiving curious glances from his cohorts.

"...but why would they do that?"

"I don't know! You can never tell what they're up to."

"Be more trusting, they've allied with us and sworn their allegiance!"

"Not everyone values the words they've spoken. Until we can figure out who is behind the organized moblin and bokoblin forces before they strike-"

As they watched a small convoy came into view. One or two wagons were surrounded by multiple adults, some dressed in heavy armour, and others in lithe uniforms brimming with concealed weaponry. At their head rode a regal man, very much aged with lines of worry forever chiseled into his face from the passing of time. A small youth rode on his horse behind him, her petite features covered with a simple but elegant dress. Link's mind suddenly jumped up and down with recognition, waving a little red flag.

"Hey, I've seen those humans before! They came through here years back!" Link whispered.

"The girl's kinda pretty," Stall shot back.

Bumper then wiggled, indicating for the two to quiet down as the adults continued their debate.

"The zoras would never lower themselves to such a level, and I highly doubt the gorons would either, not that they have the sorcerous knowledge anyways," spoke the regal man on his horse.

Beside him, Link recognized the scary lady from before. Her features and behaviors had changed little, the only difference the new white marks beneath her eyes. He assumed that they marked her as someone important, judging by the deference that the other adults gave her. One man, his thin uniform marked with a strange eye design, walked up to her and whispered into her ear. She dismissed him and turned back to the man on his horse.

"My scouts have reported no bokoblins in the area, from what they can see. It seems they're just as afraid of these Woods as we are. Anyways, what about the Gerudo? Peace talks have been going on for some time, but-"

"By the goddesses, I know you're worried but we can't go about accusing everyone else."

"But your daughter herself is having prophetic dreams! How can you ignore that?" she shot.

The small girl looked up at her father. She appeared to be about the same age as Link now. Nodding vigorously, she made a noise in agreement, but the man was not amused.

" I know the Sheikah are a superstitious lot at times, but please, this isn't-"

"My lord, do understand that-"

And the arguing continued. Stall yawned, stretching lightly as he straightened out his back. The other two gave him a look, but his reply of "They're arguing about boring stuff that makes no sense," appeased them. Stall clacked his beak, a mischievous glint appeared in his eye.

"Hey, that white-haired lady looks really uptight, doesn't she?"

Link frowned at him, "I think I like 'scary lady' better, it suits her more."

"Yeah, you're right. Heh heh, think I could hit her nose from her? That'd wipe the look off her face!" He took out his slingshot, taking aim at the sheikah.

"I really don't think that's a good idea, Stall."

"We did come here to practice aiming, what better way to do that than by scaring off adults?"

"No seriously, I _really_ don't think that's a good idea! I don't want to make her mad!" Link frantically tried to stop his friend, but he seemed to be quite enamored with his prank. Bumper wasn't helping matters because he was struggling to keep his laughter under control. The Kokiri leaned over from his tree branch to try and grab Stall's arm, but he leaned just a little too far.

_Crack._

Everyone heard it. The adults glanced worriedly about the path, trying to figure out the source of the sound.

Link, Stall and bumper looked down at the hairline crack that had appeared in Link's branch. Then they looked at each other.

"Uh oh."

_Snap!_

Link fell with a yelp, jumping off the falling limb and into the bush bordering the path before the broken branch had even hit the ground. Impa, her speed legendary, had already headed towards where she'd seen the bushes moving. Link scrambled to his feet, not wanting to stick around long enough to be seen by the adults, because he just _knew_ that would spell disaster. The Sheikah had other plans. Right when Link had finally gotten to his feet, she reached through the bush to try and grab whatever the thing causing the disturbance was before it escaped. Her hand closed on his sleeve.

Bumper's quick thinking saved the day. He spat a deku nut at the Sheikah, forcing her to adjust her momentum ever-so-slightly to dodge. She glared up at the deku, readying a throwing knife, when a seed rapped smartly against her knuckles. Another one glanced off her face as a skull kid came into view, chattering animatedly in gibberish before running away with the Deku. She scowled, then noticed that whatever she'd grabbed had gone limp. Her hand retreated back to her, and she grimaced when she saw that all she held was a small scrap of green cloth. The bushes rustled and something dashed away, leaving barely a trace and hardly moving the foliage at all as it left. Impa leaped beyond the hedge, but whatever the thing she'd been chasing was, it was long gone. A large bush rustled slightly, but it was so small that it could have been a breeze. Then everything was still.

Looking around more, Impa resigned herself to the fact that it had gotten away. She returned to the path.

The king, when she returned, was looking more than flustered and a little worried. "What was that?"

Impa replied, "I didn't get a good view. It was incredibly fast, I'll tell you that much. Couldn't have been a moblin or bokoblin then. Did any of you get a good look?"

The entire caravan, whom she'd addressed, all fidgeted and looked rather ashamed of themselves. One Sheikah spoke up, "None of us did, ma'am. The best any of us saw was the branch breaking and that skull kid."

Impa nodded. "Well, I managed to grab a piece of evidence, but for a skull kid to be involved, I doubt there was any real danger for any of us. They may be mischievous and try to trick children into the woods, but overall they're not menacing. Perhaps we were just at the butt end of one of their pranks," she motioned towards the woods as she held up the emerald scrap of cloth.

"Hmm, quite a fine colour for a skull child." noted the king.

"Probably stolen from a trading caravan."

As she said that, Impa looked over and saw Zelda staring at the scrap of cloth as if it were a great puzzle.

"I feel as if I should know more about... that colour..." said Zelda, her eyes scrunched in concentration, "whoever that belongs to...will play an important role. I can't tell much more than that, though."

Impa filed that information away, resolving to research the cloth later.

The king, on the other hand, merely sighed in resignation, "I'm sure I can't convince you otherwise, however, I do believe we have more important matters to deal with at the moment. For instance, I would very much like to leave this forest and its skull kids behind before something a little more dangerous pops out of the bushes."

Impa shook herself out of her reverie, realizing the wisdom of that statement. With a quick motion to the troops, they left the king's side and continued back towards Hyrule.

X X X X X

Panting and gasping for air, Link and his friends arrived in another clearing deep in the woods. Stall dropped Bumper, having carried him for a ways since the deku's short legs left him tired out faster than the others. He collapsed to the ground, Bumper rolling a short distance. Link had to prop himself up, his hands on his knees.

"Think we shook her?" he managed to say between huffs.

"I... I think so." replied Stall, struggling upwards.

Bumper jumped up, shaking his head in shock, "She as a scary laydeh all right, mon! And shee's even scarier up close, mon! I though I wus a goner!" he wheezed. A few minutes passed as they regained their breaths. Bumper whistled, "I dunno about you, leetle mons, but ah've got to go lay me down for a beet." the deku waddled off, headed back to his home. "You know where tah find me if yah want to see me, eh mon!"

Stall grumbled, but realized that the older scrub was probably right. "Old geezer... I guess I'll have to go too. I'm kinda hungry, so I'm going to go fishing, okay? See ya later!" He rustled off, but turned around just before he left. "Oh, and Link?"

"Yeah?"

"I did get her nose after all."

Link gave a fake cry of outrage, throwing the nearest stick at hand towards Stall. The pair laughed as he dodged, running away back into the woods. Grinning ear to ear, Link flopped down to earth, contemplating the leaves far above his head. It was hard to see, but the sky was just barely visible through the trees. He stared at it, pondering the perpetually golden mist that lay above the Woods. It was sometimes muttered among the other Kokiri that the mist itself was a part of the forest, the living breath of the trees that obscured the skies and separated the forest from the outside world. Link had heard rumors that the sky was supposed to be blue, filled with fluffy 'clouds' and other such things, but no one could prove such a thing so long as the fog pervaded above the trees. Sometimes he'd even heard say that some of the outsiders found the mist oppressive, but he saw it as a comforting, protective thing that lay over the trees like a blanket, keeping away whatever cold and scary things the rest of the world may offer.`

It was also a way to tell regular forests from the lost woods. If you could see the blue sky, you were fine. No sky, you were probably already lost. Well, that's how others might have looked at it. Kokiri never got lost, at least not permanently.

Link continued his upward gaze before snapping back to reality, as bored as any child would be after having lain around staring at something for an hour. He meandered back home, amusing himself with trivial observations along the way (including one that his sleeve was torn. How annoying).

The trees began to spread out as he neared, and rock formations forced him to climb or jump down into small canyons or cliffs as he neared. He idly wondered if the lost forest would have been called a mountain if it weren't for the trees. Rifts began to appear, filled with large, hollow trunks that formed tunnels. A sure sign he was close.

He stopped by a pond, peering down at the underwater tunnel deep under the water. Oh, how many times he'd tried to swim deep enough to enter it. Unfortunately, as great of great athletes as they may have been, Kokiri weren't that good with diving. Too much forest in them, he supposed.

The blue-eyed boy had just begun an inspection of the nearby stone carvings when a new presence trotted into the clearing. Geer, his orange hair bobbing, sat on a tree trunk not far away. Link noticed his melancholy expression and responded accordingly.

"Hey... you okay?"

Geer looked up, surprised to see Link there, "Uhm, yeah, I'm okay. Just didn't sleep well."

"Nightmares?"

The carrot top started, giving his friend a stunned glance, "Yeah! How'd you know?"

Link grinned sympathetically, "I've been having them too."

"You think... you think somethings happening? I talked to the Great Deku tree, he said that sometimes, when bad things were about to happen, that people that were sensitive would notice. I think a lot of the Kokiri are having problems. The sprouts are always waking up crying or sniffling, and some of the older ones are getting testy. You don't even want to know what Mido is like," he chuckled dryly. The 'sprouts' he'd referred to were, of course, the younger members of the Kokiri, the ones that usually needed to be watched before they did something stupid. Well stupider than usual Link mused, the memory of the Wolfos incident popping back into his head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize. I'm usually out in the forest, so I didn't notice anything wrong," Link admitted.

"That's okay," started Geer, "it's just that everyone's starting to get a bit tenser than usual, and no one can explain why." the orange hair exaggerating even the slightest movement of his head. Geer gazed around the area, then his eyes lit up on Link. "...Hey. You wanna fight?"

Link was taken aback, "Uhm... Oh, what the heck, sure!"

What followed was a blur of gold, green and orange as the two jumped at each other, beating each other up in a good-natured brawl. Boys will be boys, and even Kokiri liked to have fights on occasion. They both found it a great way to release any pent-up frustration. Or at least, replace it with bruises. Link hadn't enjoyed a good scrap in ages. Eventually, however, he broke it off.

Geer swung his fists wildly in the air, "So you admit defeat to the mighty Geer do ya?"

"More like I'm being merciful, idjit!" he snapped back. Geer had gotten the worst of it, as Link was the best fighter of the Kokiri.

"You just din't want to lose yer winning streak! Hah hah!"

"Oh, you think you could even hope to beat me?"

"Yeah I do! Bring it!"

"It's on!" And the two were back at it. Well, so much for the reprieve. The pair tumbled through the loam, kicking up dirt and splashing water as they moved to the shallows of the pond.

"Ohmytails that is so _adorable_!" squealed a voice.

The fight stopped dead, both combatants staring at the new arrival. A yellow fox with slanted eyes was sat on the top of the stone by the pond, wiggling her tails- yes, _tails_- and paws in joy. Black tipped ears were laid on her shoulder in amusement, her shoulders scrunched up tight as she surveyed the Kokiri before her.

"Uh... who are you? Actually, scrap that, _what _are you" Geer asked.

"Oh, me? No, I'm no one, don't worry about me. Just a random keaton. Continue!" she said silkily.

Geer stared at for a minute, than began scrambling in terror. "Keaton! A ghost fox! I'm scared of ghosts! Aaaaaaah!"

Link screamed as well, and the two extricated themselves from their wrestle in record time as they sprinted in opposite directions.

"No, no, don't go away! Oooh, you're not escaping that easily!" she stated, launching herself at her haunches at the nearest boy. Geer screeched at the fox, narrowly dodging her by ducking under a tree limb. She hit the limb, disoriented, and he made his getaway.

Link wasn't so lucky. He'd accidentally dashed off in the wrong direction and nearly gone for a swim before trying to hide behind the plinth. The keaton had seen him though, and he'd run out from behind it just as she pounced. Link skittered across the ground, dashed into the forest and hid under a log.

In hindsight, it was a pretty bad move considering the type of creature chasing him. The fox had him found in no time at all.

"Hey there!" she smirked, "found you!"

Link groaned. This wouldn't turn out well at all.

X X X

The Great Deku Tree, the immense guardian of the Kokiri, heaved a deep sigh at the scene before him.

"No."

The keaton sat before him, Link clutched possessively against her fur. The boy struggled vainly, his face buried in yellow tufts.

"Gerrof me!" he pouted.

"But great Deku tree, you haven't even heard my request yet!"

"The answer is no."

"Aww, come on, please! He's sooooo cute! Can't I keep him?"

"No..."

"It's just _one_ kokiri, c'mon, please?"

"No."

Her tails waggled in consternation, "I'd keep very good care of him! Pleeeeaase please please please?"

"No. Sorry, but I cannot let you have one. Especially not that one."

"Awww..."

The keaton finally let the poor boy go, who promptly ran hell-for-leather to the tree and leaped straight behind one of his protective roots. He peeped over the root, fixing the Keaton with an affronted glare.

The keaton stood up, her shoulder sagging, "I understand Great Deku Tree." She glanced over at Link, then perked up with a foxy grin.

"I understand that you don't want to come with me, but if you ever want to call me..." the keaton flicked her tail, and a mask appeared. It floated over the suspicious kokiri, who accepted the gift only after a great amount of scrutiny. "Just use that. Me or someone I know will come running! Keep in touch, sweetie!" And with that, she disappeared with another tail flick and a sparkle of light.

Link stood behind the root for a long time, staring at the spot she'd occupied moments before.

"...Girls are weird."

The tree sighed. "Verily, it must seem so. I'm sure you'll understand them in time."

"I doubt it."

The tree chuckled. Link clambered from his hiding spot, scampering toward the village. Her waved at the tree as he left, "Thank you Great Deku Tree!"

The deku tree nodded in response, smiling to himself as the boy left. The evening sun was beginning to fall towards the horizon, and was already lost beyond the cliffs surrounding his meadow. Shadows lengthened slowly but surely.

Deep in thought, the tree gazed at the sky, unknowingly mirroring Link's actions from earlier. Concern rode upon his features. It was good that another day had passed with minimal incident, but...

Every day that passed was one day closer to destiny. Time was continuing its endless march, and the pieces would soon fall into place whether the participants were ready or not. Destiny was a game, and it had only just begun. He worried for Link because he knew the part he was to play all too well.

Then a woodpecker started an incessant boring into his bark. Silly nuisance. The tree was brought from his musings.

Destiny could wait a moment more. That bird had it coming.


	4. Youth IV

_Darkness surrounded the boy, a small light in the middle of an abyss. Harsh laughter rang out around him as he flailed. A roar sounded. Tendrils broke apart from the surrounding shadows, shooting towards him as if to claim him for their own._

_Caught in their grasp, he felt the life squeezed out of him as a figure with glowing eyes and flaming hair grinned maliciously at him._

"_Destiny awaits us, boy! Awake!"_

_A scream._

"Gaaaaaah!"

Link shot awake, covered in sweat and panting. Another nightmare. Brilliant. After untangling himself from his bedsheets, he hung them to dry out any sweat, and began his chores with all the vigor of one all too willing to forget something. With idle glances around the forest, he found himself startled at the early hour. He had arisen much, much sooner than usual.

As he hoed the damp ground, his keen ears picked up more soft shrieks and cries from the other huts around the small village. Consternation crossed his face. Geer was right; he wasn't the only one having nightmares... However, the nightmares hold on the village of children seemed much more powerful than even Geer had said it was.

Saria ran towards him suddenly, gasping for breath. Link dropped his tools, running to her aide as she doubled over.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up, "I'm fine. We have to check on everyone else, though. Something is wrong."

"Right," he replied. As more of the Kokiri awoke, they were greeted by the sight of their comrades, the older pair of children checking on the younger ones, and recruiting other older ones to help as well. Everyone was awake within a short time frame, and began to gather in the center of the village. No one knew what was going on, their eyes and their fairy companions flitting every which way. As they all huddled together, confused muttering began as they checked up on one another. Mido, his nerves raised, took on his role of self-proclaimed leader by raising his voice, "Okay people! Shush! Does anyone know what's going on?"

Silence.

Link looked over at him as he continued, "Well, then, as the leader, I'm going to go ask the Great Deku Tree! All right?"

Hushed murmurs grumbled their assent, only Saria and Link seeming to disagree. "We'll go with you," Link stated. Mido looked like he was about to argue, but decided wisely that now wasn't the time for it. The three departed.

As they traversed the tunnel leading to the Deku Tree's meadow, they heard his voice sound out, "Who goes there?"

"It's us, Great Deku Tree!" Saria called back.

"Aaaah, good, good," he sighed. Branches rustled as he settled himself down, gazing peacefully at the three below his great girth.

"Great Deku Tree-" Mido began.

"Hush, now. Let me guess, the whole village has been the victim of nightmares, no?"

Mido buttoned his lips, nodding a silent confirmation.

The Deku Tree sternly watched the Kokiri, as if considering his options, before he continued, "Do not worry, children. I felt it too. It was, in a manner of speaking, the first step of fate. Great things are to happen, however they are still a ways off. Do not fret, thy nightmares shall cease their intensity for a while. It was just a momentary surge, things will settle."

Saria smiled, which prompted a similar response from the others. "Thank you, Deku tree."

Link shuffled uncomfortably, "All the same, Great Deku Tree, is there anything we can do to help?"

"Ah, yes! Yes, now that you mention it," responded the tree, "Mido, I need you to go tell the other Kokiri to be calm. It will be alright, they shouldn't experience such nightmares again any time soon. Saria, if you would accompany him, please, and help make sure that the youngest are settled and that things return to normal."

"Yes, sir!"

"We'll get right on it!"

The pair left, Link watching them leave. He quickly turned around and stood to attention when the tree addressed him.

"As for you, Link..."

"Yes?"

"I need you to do something special for me. Now, you need to keep this a secret from the others, all right?"

"Sure, anything," Link responded seriously.

"I had hoped that Time would remain on our sides, but it seems that it has begun to run out. As I mentioned, fate has taken a step and started its march forwards. I'm afraid that it will involve you," he spoke somberly, "now, what I need you to do is to run an errand for me. Outside of the forest is a town, called Castle Town, it is a ways off, but it is visible for miles. I need you to visit there and see if you can gather any information on what is occurring outside of the forest."

Link was shocked. He stared incredulously at the Deku tree, "G-go outside the forest? But I thought us Kokiri died if we left the forest!"

"No, not immediately at any rate. That is only a story told to keep you young ones safe from the outside world, to keep you leaving the forest. You can leave for a short time, if absolutely necessary. This is why your mission needs to be kept a secret. Now, be off with you. I would recommend finding something to guard yourself with, or a means of transport, however. Best of luck!"

Link saluted, "Yes, sir, Deku tree sir!" And with that he was off.

Watching him leave, a hefty sigh left the frame of the aged wooden guardian, "I am sorry boy... but we've no more time to spare. Your destiny has come upon you."

Link, hearing those words, could not suppress a shiver once he'd left the tree's field of view. Destiny... the same thing the nightmare had spoken of. An icy tongue of uncertainty tingled down his spine.

X X X

As Link left the tunnel leading to the tree's meadow, he made a great effort to avoid being seen by anyone in the village. Sneaking back to his house, he retrieved a dagger (found by the side of the path through the woods) and his trusty shield. As he was looking for the shield, however, he'd noticed the mask left to him by the keaton from earlier. After thinking upon it for a moment, he decided to take it with him. If he got in a pinch, perhaps summoning a keaton would be just the ticket for some advice.

All set, more sneaking around ensued as he left the village. He traveled straight towards the path, completely silent as he traversed the wood. Upon reaching it, his face crinkled in worry. Which way to take it? Was he in a pinch already? Looking down at the mask in his hand, he shrugged and put it on.

Only a minute or two had passed when he heard the telltale rustle of bushes behind him, ducking just in time as the eccentric female attempted to hug him.

"Aww, missed you. Anyways, hello sweetie, how are you?" she smiled, her yellow fur glinting in the morning sun.

Still wearing the mask, Link scratched the back of his head, "I'm okay. Uhm, say, can I ask you a question?"

"My name, sure, it's Kieri- oh wait, that's not the question, is it? Anyways, sure, go ahead!" she returned, her tails drifting nonchalantly.

Link thought for a moment on how to ask the question without giving away his destination, but realized that it wasn't really possible, "Uhm, do you know which way it is to Castle Town?"

"Castle Town?" she started, "oh, sure, it's that way." Kieri pointed to the correct path, which disappeared into the dark underbrush in the distance. "I'm surprised though, that's an unusual place for a Kokiri to want to go... Oh...!"she gazed at him, contemplation clear on her features. "I think I get it... Hmm... Why, that would certainly explain a few things," she muttered.

"Uh, what?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing!" she waved away his question, "I was just thinking about something. Say, you wouldn't happen to have a funny birthmark on your hand, would you?"

Link stiffened, "Uh. No. Uhm, no I don't." What he didn't tell her was that he actually did. It was a sore subject for Link, however, after having been teased about it for ages. After while he'd just started wearing wooden gauntlets to hide it, and wasn't about to show it off to some strange fox.

The keaton merely gave him a smirk, "Honey, I have some advice; you can't trick a trickster. Ah, anyways, no matter! Forget I said anything! Tell you what, it's a long way to castle town. I'll take you there, otherwise you'd never get there in under a day, and Hyrule field can be a little... nasty at night. Sound good?"

Link shuffled uncomfortably, unsure of how to react. "Well, alright. I guess so," he muttered uneasily.

Kieri smiled, "Okay then, get on!" Before Link could react, she'd grabbed him by his belt and swung him into the air. He landed on her back shortly afterward, completely confused.

"Wait, what the-?"

"Here we go!"

The Kokiri was forced to lean forward when she suddenly bolted onto the path. He gave a gasp of surprise, clinging onto her fur for dear life for a good minute.

"Gentle on the fur there sweetie, I just cleaned it this morning!"

"Sorry,"he replied. It didn't take long for him to get used to the fast pace of the keaton, and before he knew it he was gazing in awe at how fast the trees were going past. It wasn't nearly as fast as when he sprinted, but it was pretty darn fast all the same.

Hours passed as the pair continued down the trail, Kieri's paws pounding the dirt beneath. Link proved himself a natural at riding, never once slipping off or causing Kieri any great discomfort. Once or twice they had to jump off the path when they heard a noise, a caravan or two passing by. After one such event in which the keaton was out of breath, Link watched a large group pass and turned to his friend, "Why are there so many people? Usually there's a few weeks between each group, now there's just a few hours!"

After gulping down some air, she responded, "Well, I think there's an event going on Castle town, now that you mention it." Shaking herself off, she stared at Link, "Can you promise me something here, sweetie?"

"Uhm, what's that?"

"Can you keep those gloves of yours on, no matter what?"

Link was taken aback by the request, "Yeah, I do that anyways, so sure. Why ask that though?"

"Oh, no reason," she smiled. Link caught a glint in her eye that hinted at something tricky going on, but he couldn't figure out what, so he let it rest. The pair continued after the caravan had left, but as they were both headed in the same direction they were forced to keep to the trees, which slowed their pace considerably. Link even dismounted at one point to better hide behind the bushes along the path.

By the time they were nearing the exit to the forest, the mid-day sun was shining brightly. Kieri left the tree cover momentarily, then came back once her scouting was done. The keaton gave the sky a concerned look, "We're not going to get there on time at this rate, unless we risk getting spotted... Ahah! I have an idea! Sweetie, can you understand Hylian?"

"Hyl-what?"

"I'll take that as a no. Hmm, Slight change to the plan. The caravan from earlier is just beyond the trees, and it has a lot of horses. I was going to sneak you onto the caravan, but if you can't understand them then I'll have to come along. Okay? What we have to do is pretend that we need their help, alright?"

"Okay!" Link grinned. He jumped back in surprise less than a second later when the keaton swished her tails, sending up a great gust of wind. Link blinked and looked away. Upon looking back, his eyebrows shot up. Kieri had changed her appearance, and now appeared to look like an outsider. She was tall and appeared almost noble, wearing a gentile golden dress with her tails hidden under the skirt. She frowned.

"Hmph, shapeshifting is such a nuisance sometimes. It's next to _impossible_ to hide the tail and ears...grumbled the fox. Her ears, plainly on her head, twitched.

Link laughed, "Heh heh, I'd heard keatons were able to shapeshift, but I didn't believe it. Ah well, I know how to tell a keaton apart from a real human now, at least." He offered his hat to the fox, "Will this help hide the ears?"

"If I change it a bit, it will do perfectly!" she took it, flicked her wrist, and the hat turned into a yellow bonnet. "I'll give it back when I'm done, okay?"

"Not looking like that, I hope!"he chuckled.

"I'm a trickster fox hun, I just might!" she grinned. "Now, play the part of my son, I'll handle the rest, okay?"

"Right."

With that, they stepped out of the forest. Link stopped involuntarily, stock-still in shock at the sight before him.

Kieri nudged him forwards, "Welcome to Hyrule field," she whispered.

Hyrule field was vast. It was_ huge_. Link couldn't stop gaping, even as Kieri hailed the caravan in a strange language. Castle town could be easily seen in the distance, even across the lush green plains surrounding it. It was only when they were surrounded by large men that he snapped out of his stupor. He could feel suspicion and wariness from the men, and looked to Kieri even as she stuttered sweetly at them. He couldn't understand the conversation, but he got the gist of it through body language alone. They were obviously suspicious of the pair, and as such Link surmised that he was not the only one who had heard of keaton shape-shifting. The only thing keeping her out of hot water right now, he realized, was the fact that the keaton-like lady had a very non keaton-like boy with her. That boy instantly grabbed onto that fact and used it to his advantage. Looking around at the group, he found one with a big heart, easy to find for a Kokiri (hey, they could sense intention after all) and tugged on his fingers.

The big, burly, intimidating man was caught completely off guard. He looked down to see a huge grin aimed at his face, before Link went around and bothered a few of the other men, grabbing tunics and poking shiny weapons like any normal child would. Then he returned to Kieri and held her skirt shyly for effect, right before he launched a weapons-grade glance of utter adoration and general cuteness at the men.

Link was mildly surprised that they didn't literally melt on the spot.

Kieri continued talking, but now that the air was clear of a lot of tension, things went much more smoothly. Another of the men even came forward and offered his hand while speaking. Link didn't understand a word of it, of course, but shook the hand anyways, marveling at how large it was.

A few minutes later they were seated in the back of a cart. Kieri glanced around, and after deeming it safe, finally spoke to Link in the Wild Tongue, "Whew, you got us out of a spot there."

"What happened?" he asked.

"Turns out they were a little more versed in folklore than I thought. They suspected me of being a keaton right away, but you were what confused them. With you around they didn't know if I actually was a keaton, or just had the clothing sense of one. Us both having blonde hair helped the story of us being mother and son, but they were pretty close to calling my bluff right up until you went and worked your kiddy-cute-magic on 'em. Seeing that you _were_ real, they all fell for the trick." She ruffled his hair, "Ooh, too bad the deku tree wouldn't let me have you, you really are an adorable kit. Oh the pranks I could teach you!"

Link smirked, "You could still teach me pranks if you really wanted, I suppose."

"I just might. Anyways, we'd better not speak the Wild Tongue in public or they might figure us out. I had to tell them that we were foreigners, but that won't stand for long if they hear us too much. Now, let's enjoy the ride, hmm?"

The day continued to pass. Link couldn't stop staring at the antics of the caravan, some of whom had brought their own children. Afternoon had come and gone when they finally saw the town gate. Guards stood either side of the impressive door, the walls around the town making it a veritable stronghold. Link's eyes nearly sparkled with delight. For a little boy like him, used to being mostly alone in the depths of the Lost woods, it was like being a prince escorted to a palace!

"Look at that! Oh my gosh! This is so cool! Look at all the people! Hiiiiiii!" he waved, jostling around in his seat.

Kieri laughed, "Settle down there!"

Link sobered up immediately. He had nearly forgotten his mission! He put on a straight, unemotional face, which promptly broke a few seconds later when a guard nodded at them as they passed into the town. He just _knew_ his face was going to hurt from grinning, but he really couldn't care at the moment. Then he realized something.

"Uh, Kieri, uhm..." he started, "I need to ask people some questions, but-"

"-You can't speak Hylian," she finished. The pair jumped off the cart, waved at the caravan, then walked into town. As she continued to speak to him, their voices were drowned out by the hustle and bustle of the market they were headed to. "Let me guess, you're here to gather information, correct?"

Link gawked, then jumped around frantically, "Please Kieri, don't tell anyone, it's supposed to be a secret!"

She grinned back, "It's okay, like I said, you can't trick a trickster. Anyways, Let me help you out some more. There are other creatures here who can speak the Wild Tongue. Chances are that you'll want to talk to them, they'll probably know what's going on. Just be careful not to get seen too much. Now, I'm going to talk to some friends that I haven't seen in a long time. Also, when you're ready to leave, just use the mask to call me. But, be warned, we can't leave at night, all right?"

Link nodded. Kieri gave him a hug, then disappeared into the crowds. Link looked around, pondering where to go first. It didn't take him long to figure out his first destination; the biggest building he could find. With that, he headed off towards what, unknownst to him, was Hyrule castle.

Of course, being a kid, he got distracted along the way. A young woman here was chasing a cucco, so he helped her catch it. Then there was a man showing off masks over the other way, and he couldn't helped but gaze at the amazing craftmanship. The man smiled, his eyes hidden by his rosy cheeks.

"Why, what a useful keaton mask you have there!"

Link stared at him for about two seconds before promptly stuffing his mask into his Kokiri pouch and running hell-for-leather away from the man. The salesman shrugged and muttered to himself, still smiling, but Link was already too far away to hear what was said.

Link finally arrived at the castle a half-hour later, holding an apple that a nice lady had given him. He walked up to the gate, much to the amusement of the guards. They spoke to him, but he couldn't understand a word they said and just stared at them. A guard frowned, and Link got the feeling that he wasn't welcome in the area. _Well, one less lead at least _he thought as he left.

The next destination was the second biggest building in town. He found his way there without too much more in the way of detours. Well, except for catching that darn cucco again. The woman seemed very happy, and gave him a bottle for his trouble, so the time wasn't wasted. What he saw upon arrival at the big building (which seemed familiar for some reason) certainly struck him as suspicious. There was apparently a festival of some sort, but the atmosphere was tense and unfriendly. This being a stark contrast to the rest of the town, Link decided to investigate.

At the center of a crowd of incredibly varied people, Link could see a display set up. It had two brilliant pieces of jewelery on it, one a ruby and the other a trio of sapphires, all set into carefully crafted gold. It seemed that there was a place set for a third stone, however, but nobody in the crowd was holding anything to put there. Instead they were talking to each other grumpily, a few waving their arms about aggressively. Of course he couldn't understand a word of it, but as far as leads could go it was better than nothing. Large, burly creatures with rock-like skin were arguing with fish-like people, all while more normal hylians squabbled and bickered. There was even one person with robes and wings. A few dark-skinned women with red hair were also apparent. It was one in particular, a male, which caught Link's attention. Whomever it was, they were talking to the most regally dressed man in the crowd, and he was oozing enough false confidence and chivalry to appear downright slimy in Link's opinion. Not to mention the feeling of intense evil... The Kokiri wisely decided to stay as far away from the man a possible. He could tell that he was inherently evil, and the man's large frame and brilliant hair seemed all to familiar to Link. Link hid behind a tree, waiting for the man to leave.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Link kept out of sight as the man left, only daring to peek out of cover when he felt the dark aura dissipate into the distance.

Once he felt relatively safe, Link exited his hiding place and began to peer around the crowd to see if he could spot anyone to talk to about the events. He figured that the crowd's bad mood must have had something to with the empty slot on the table. Unfortunately, finding anyone to talk to was downright hard. It was with a stroke of luck that another man came towards the group, bearing a horse. The man went to talk to the regally dressed guy (maybe a king?) and began to talk, but it wasn't their conversation that was interesting. It was the horse.

Link walked up to the horse with a smile, patting its muzzle. "Hello! I'm sorry, can I ask you something?"

The horse snorted in mild surprise, "Why, someone who can speak our tongue? And so polite! Certainly, ask away!"

"Do you know anything about what's going on here? It seems like a fair or something, but I can't tell."

"Why, this is a traditional celebration dating back for ages, I'm surprised you don't know about it," started the horse, "every year, to honour past heroes, the three main races of Hyrule gather together to present the spiritual stones to each other to show their bonds of friendship and reassert themselves as allies. Recently other allies of hyrule have joined in the celebrations as well, such as the Sheikah, Rito and Gerudo. Just between you and me, I don't entirely trust the Gerudo."

Link pointed over at the table, "Those are the spiritual stones there, then? But shouldn't there be three?"

The horse chuffed, "Yes, there should. But alas, one of the races of Hyrule disappeared ages ago. About seventy years, I believe. That was the race hailing from the forest, although I'm not sure what the race was called, all before my time you see. Speaking of disappearing, apparently the hero to whom this particular ceremony was addressed disappeared not very long after that. This ceremony has been pulling a double-duty as a prayer to the goddesses for the hero to reappear, from what I know. Apparently there is some trouble with bokoblin uprisings that is getting the king of Hyrule, and all the other races as well, quite worried."

"Okay, that's great! Thanks so much!" Link grinned, "I'm going to go now, but thanks a bunch for the help!"

"You are most welcome," replied the horse. Link left the temple front full of ideas, completely ignoring the fact that he was the subject of a few odd stares.

So, if he was right, then the reason everyone was mad was because they were missing a special stone, a 'spiritual stone'. That stone, he figured, was important to some ritual that called for some hero that helped people out. So, all he needed to do was find the stone, apparently hidden among the people of the forest, and bring it back to fix the ritual and summon the hero! And what luck, being a Kokiri, he lived in the forest, so it wouldn't be too far from home!

Feeling quite accomplished, Link set back towards the main market plaza. Along the way, however, he detoured through an alley out of curiosity after a pair of boys ran from it yelling at the top of their lungs.

Upon entering and investigating the alley, Link discovered something that even he found astounding. Curled forlornly in the back of a stable was, of all things, a dragon! The thing was long and serpentine, with two front legs and a mane of fire. It muttered and whimpered to itself in a feminine voice, occasionally letting out a small moan. Link approached her carefully, "Excuse me, ma'am, is something wrong?"

The dragon looked up, seemingly just as surprised to see Link as he was to see her. "A boy who, oooh! Speaks the Wild Tongue aaaah?"

Link smiled, "Yup, that's me!"

The dragon shuffled over to him and pleaded, "Oowooh you dear little thing! Please help! Ouch! I have a splinter in my mouth, please can you pull it out?"

Link stepped back for a moment, wary, but he sensed no foul intentions and so climbed into the stable with the dragon, "Certainly, ma'am! Open your mouth so I can find it!"

Without further ado she complied. Link had to lean in to spot the thing, a nasty looking stick wedged in her gums at the back of her jaw. "I'm going to have to reach in pretty far to get it, okay? Hold tight!" Leaning in as far as he could, Link reached for the splinter. However, the dragon, and thus her jaw, was very large and long, and the splinter was a bit beyond reach. "Uh oh... um, keep holding still please!" Standing on the tips of his toes, Link had no other choice but to pull himself in just enough to get at the chunk of wood.

Of course, this was the exact moment for a guard, who had also heard the boys from earlier, to walk in on the scene.

The dragon squeaked, hardly moving a muscle, as the guard stared at the scene before him.

"Uuuuuh..."

"Jus' gimme a sec, I'm getting it!"

Link wriggled, grasping his hands around the wood. The guard gave a shout of alarm, brandishing his spear at the dragon and grabbing low fence that served as the gate to the stable, as if to jump it.

At that moment, Link yanked out the splinter.

The dragon gave a roar of pain, rearing back and snapping her jaw shut as Link tumbled to the ground. The guard also fell back, his heavy armour clanking on the ground as he scrambled in fright to get back up. Link looked over at the guard, who was gazing wide-eyed at him in utter confusion, held up the splinter, and grinned.

A goron ran over to the scene, glancing between the guard, Link, and the dragon. Suddenly the guard began chattering animatedly at the goron, bafflement and shock clearly on his face. The goron seemed to try and answer.

Clicking her jaws together, the dragon smiled and wagged her tail upon realizing that the splinter was out, "Oh thank you, you dear little thing, thank you! It's out, it's out!"

Link grinned as he got up, dusting some straw off from his tunic, "Heh, told you I'd get it! How'd this get in there, anyways?"

She answered, "Well, some boys had seen me in this stable and began to poke me with a plank. I'm a tame dragon after all, they thought they could get away with it. I tried to growl and warn them off, but they didn't listen, so I tried biting the stick instead. It did scare them off, although it didn't work as well as planned, obviously... Oh, how rude of me! I am Volgavia, soon to be guardian of the fire temple," she said, bowing at Link daintily, "my sincerest gratitude for the favor!"

Link blushed, "Aww, it was nothing. Hey, guardian of a temple? That sounds cool!"

Volgavia smiled, "Yes, I was bartered for, the gorons thought it would be a good idea to have a dragon guard their temple, what with all the turmoil going on. Anyways, there must be some way I can thank you properly!" The dragon purred, fluttering her eyelids at Link.

"Uhm, that's okay, a good deed is worth doing and all that," replied the Kokiri. He made to leave, but Volgavia let out a small gasp.

"Oh no, you're covered in dirt! I can't have you leaving like that! Come here!" She grabbed Link, and before he could protest, set to washing him as all animals usually do. With her tongue.

The goron and the guard looked over just in time to see Link squirm and shriek as Volgavia began cleaning the straw and grit off of Link's back, a comically outraged expression on his face. Both stopped what they were doing to watch the show. Link kept struggling, it was like getting a bath from a rock! She stopped for a moment just in time for him to see the cheeky look adorning her snout, before getting it right in the face. Much to the amusement of the goron, of course, who was doubled over in laughter. Link finally squirmed free and ran, his hair sticking up at all sorts of odd angles as he escaped the pen. He adjusted himself huffily, Volgavia snorting with amusement.

"Anytime you need help, just ask!"

Link wisely decided not to respond.

The goron grinned at the guard, "See, no harm done! She likes the boy, is all!"

Shaking his head in resignation, the guard watched as the goron walked over and patted the boy in green on the back heartily, congratulating him for 'facing' the dragon bravely. This, of course, startled the boy, who ran off screaming in a foreign tongue as if he were surrounded by crazy maniacs.

The guard figured he was probably right about that.

X X X

By the time Link had snuck his way out of castle town, the afternoon light was beginning to fall into the silent calm of late evening. Kieri appeared in her regular vixen form shortly after he donned the mask. She sniffed the air around him speculatively, cringing her nose a bit.

"Why do you smell like brimstone?"

"I ran into a friendly dragon. Don't ask..."

She giggled, "Oh, right, that dragon. I heard about her. A bit _too_ friendly, judging by your hair." Her paw pointed at his hair, still stuck every which way from the dragon's saliva. He hastily attempted to pat it down into submission for the umpteenth time, unsuccessfully of course.

Link frowned, "Anyways, I'm done here. Think we've got enough time to get home?" he asked.

Kieri seemed contemplative, "Well, we might, but we'll be pushing it. We'll be fine once we get into the forest, the monsters there abide by the laws and won't hurt a Kokiri... but I'm more worried about the field. We'd better hop to it, then. Oh, by the way, keep that mask on. We don't want anyone knowing someone of your kind is about. Here, this ought to help."

Kieri tapped him with her paw, and his outfit was suddenly yellow instead of green. A wave of her tail put his hat back on his head, the colour scheme also changed.

"That way, they'll think you're one of us for a bit. Don't worry, the change won't last long. Hop on!"

Link got on her back again, and the pair shot off into the evening. Kieri seemed unusually tense as dusk fell, slowly fading into night as stars began to come out of hiding. A wolfos howled.

Kieri quickened her pace, galloping towards the dark shadow of the forest approaching on the horizon. Link seemed surprised, "There are wolfos out here too?"

"Yes, and I don't want to make any bets that they're as friendly towards Kokiri as the forest ones."

"What about keatons? Are they friendly to keatons?"

"Well... no. And let's leave it at that," she panted.

Just as the sun finally disappeared over the horizon, the earth below them shifted. Kieri jumped out of the way as a curious stalchild poked its head up from underground. A few more appeared, regarding the pair as they raced to the woods. They left them alone, however, assuming them to be just another denizen of the night like they were, as well as (quite rightly) figuring that they weren't worth the effort to chase as they would be outrun easily. Link stayed quiet, warily eyeballing what he could through the slanted eyes of the keaton mask.

By the time they had finally reached the woods, Kieri was gasping for breath. Link jumped off when her backside suddenly slumped. He took off the mask now that it was safe to do so and gave her a concerned look, "Hey, you okay?"

"I'm... _huff_... fine. Keatons aren't... _cough_... very fit for running long distances... phew. What a run... yikes..." she wheezed. The keaton settled herself into a more comfortable sitting position, still gasping for air. Link stayed at her side, noticing that the illusion keeping his clothes yellow was fading away rapidly. No doubt because the one who cast it was rather exhausted. Link stayed at her side, making sure she was strong enough to get up and continue, "I'll home walk with you, okay? The Deku Tree probably won't mind if you tag along for my report."

"Thank you very much," she returned gratefully.

The trek home was disconcerting. Link wasn't used to being out so late, and the creatures of the night scuttled and hooted beyond what his limited night vision could discern. They stayed to the side of the path, just behind the veil of trees and bushes, but kept it in sight at all times to guide their way. They took it as slowly and cautiously as they could to avoid making too much noise. A wolfos's ominous glare peered at them through the gloom every once in a while, but Link's presence kept them at bay. Warnings, however, were growled constantly, especially at Kieri who had to repeatedly call out that she was just taking Link home.

Midnight had a firm grip on the landscape by the time that they finally made it to the forest just around the Deku Tree's meadow. They had skirted around the Kokiri village so as to not wake up or scare any of the inhabitants. The great tree shuffled as he heard them approach.

Link spoke first, "Great Deku Tree, I have returned." The tree greeted him, then listened to Link's findings from Castle Town.

"Link, the people of the forest that the horse told of are the Kokiri. Alas, the spiritual stone spoken of has been lost in the woods for some time. Perhaps tomorrow you may search for it, no doubt someone will know of its whereabouts, if you know whom to ask. Now, off to bed with you, you have done well."

Link waved goodnight, thanking the tree then dashing off with a yawn. When he was gone, the tree looked to the keaton, "I would surmise by your continued presence that there is more to the tale than he has told."

Kieri nodded, "Yes, Great Deku Tree. As the boy noted, tensions are indeed high in the town. What he doesn't realize is that it's because of the monster uprisings, not the lack of a spiritual stone. Bokoblins, moblins, you name it, they've been seen in increasing numbers and have been organizing into squads. Now, let me guess, the return of the incarnation of hatred is nigh."

The Deku Tree shuffled worriedly, "Yes, indeed. It is once again a man named Ganon."

"That brings up problems. I contacted the other keatons in Hyrule town today. Apparently that man, Ganon, has formed an alliance with the king of Hyrule. It's going to be just like last time..."

"No, it will not be. This time, we are prepared," responded the tree.

"True," replied the keaton. She gazed back knowingly at where Link had left, "That boy is the hero who was lost seventy years ago, isn't he?"

The tree seemed startled, his branches twitching angrily, "So, you keatons know."

Kieri looked back at him, "Yes, after today, we know for sure. Do not worry however. We do not support the evil king. Up until now, us keatons have remained a neutral party towards the affairs of those chosen by destiny. We wish to remain so as well, but if there is too much pressure upon the forces of good, then you need merely call for our aide."

The worried lashings of the great tree's foliage subsided, "Aaah... that is good to know. Very good. As you surmised, yes, that boy is indeed the one who disappeared seventy years ago,when the home of the family chosen by the gods was attacked shortly after their recognition."

"If I recall, the ocarina gifted to the family upon the royal family discovering his birthmark _also_ went missing... hmm hmm hmm! Yes, we should have known he was here. Two pieces of the puzzle in one place... It is good that they have been hidden so well. Regardless, us keatons will keep this secret and aide him when necessary. He is a good boy."

"He is. But, ah, the night is long upon us. You may stay in this clearing until dawn, if thou wishes," offered the tree.

"Thank thee muchly for that most gracious offering," Kieri bowed. She jumped to the edge of the meadow, surrounded by tall cliffs, and settled herself down. "But, do not be affronted if I am not here at dawn tomorrow, great tree. There is much to be done."

"Yes, there most certainly is."

* * *

Author's note: I know it's supposed to be spelled Volvagia, but I always thought it was Volgavia when I was a kid for some reason, and that's how it's going to stay. I'm sorta half-characterizing her, so I'm allowed to do that, right?

Merry Christmas everyone!


	5. Youth V

_Knock, knock, knock_.

As the morning sun dove strongly into Link's room, he awoke to the sound of someone rapping their knuckles nervously against his door. He yawned loudly, looking around his rooms to get his bearing. After being surprised by the amount of light coming into his abode he jumped out of bed. Or rather, rolled loudly, ending up on the floor with a resounding _whump_.

"Ow!"

"Eek!"

Whomever was outside had apparently been startled by the loud noise. Link yelled out reassuringly, "Oh, sorry! I'll be out in a minute! Sorry!"

"O-okay!" the person yelled back. As Link got up and made himself presentable, somehow he'd fallen asleep with his clothes on (he blamed his late bedtime), he also brushed down his disarrayed hair. Finally the young kokiri rushed to the door, opening it to reveal one of the younger children from the kokiri village.

"Well, hello! What did you need help with?" Link asked kindly. He was a little confused, normally most of the other kids left him alone.

"W-well, Mido is busy being the leader, a-and you didn't seem like you were doing anything, so... uh..." The boy fidgeted. Link waited patiently for him to work up the courage to continue, merely smiling as much as he could in the meantime. "Well, er... I... I kinda lost something in the woods, but I'm t-too scared to go get it back..."

Link raised an eyebrow, "Sure, I'll help you! I just have to do my chores first, is all." He went inside, grabbing his dagger and shield, before scratching his head when he realized that he couldn't find his tools. "Hold on, I can't find my stuff... er, how did you lose your thing in the woods?"

"Oh, my bucket? Uhm, I... I was playing in the woods, but then I saw a scary shadow and ran before whatever it was could get me..." mumbled the boy. Link sighed resignedly. He couldn't find his tools, and the fact that the kid ran at a shadow, well...

"Did you see what the scary thing was from the shadow?" Link asked as he made his way onto his front deck, where the young Kokiri scuffed his heels sheepishly.

"U, no... but it looked like it had long claws! Yeah! Really long, jagged claws, and maybe some spines, and sharp teeth, and-!"

"Okay, okay, I get it! No worries," Link laughed, nervously giggling at the youngster's description. No doubt whatever it was really wasn't that scary, but the kid was a lot younger than him and had quite the overactive imagination. Nonetheless, he's promised to help him. But still, what about his chores?

"Hey sleepypants! You're up!" called a familiar voice. Link looked down to see Saria running up the path to his house, waving at him with, of all things, his own rake. "You weren't home for quite a while last night! You had us worried, but then the Deku tree called me this morning and said you'd arrived fine!"

"Uh, yeah! Sorry! I didn't want to wake anyone when I got back!" Link yelled back.

Saria smirked, in a sort of I'll-accept-that-for-now-but-it-won't-work-next-time-mister sort of way, her eyebrow quirked at an angle, "Yeah, it's all right, as long as you're okay and all! Anyways, after he said that I checked up on you. You were still asleep though! Lazy bum!"

All three Kokiri giggled before Link asked, "So Saria, why do you have my rake anyways?"

"Oh?" she stopped smiling for a second, then looked at the object held in her hand and grinned, "ah, this! Well, I figured since whatever you did yesterday must've been pretty important, I did your chores for today! You were pretty wiped after all!"

Link's eyebrows shot up, "Really? Wow! Thanks so much Saria!"

Saria grinned again, running forward and shooting up Link's ladder. "Don't mind if I go in, do you? Just to put the tools away."

"No worries! I have to go help this guy here find something he lost in the forest." Link replied, pointing at the Kokiri boy beside him.

"Okay! Sure. I'll just drop your things off while you're out."

With that she went inside. Link and the younger Kokiri headed down the ladder and passed through the town with little incident. The older Kokiri glanced up curiously at the clouds every once in a while, pondering the sky.. Judging by the light, it may have been early noon or afternoon for all he could tell. The overcast atmosphere, however, was a light grey, not quite dark enough to guarantee rain, but not thin enough to avoid the possibility. The day's light glowed around the village, muffling everything as if the world were awaiting the weather. As the pair got closer and closer to the entrance of the Lost Woods, the little boy became shakier, fidgeting and peering over frequently at the tall trees. Link looked over at him with concern, "Are you gonna be alright?"

"W-Well, I'm j-just nervous..." he sniffed.

Link sighed, then gave the boy a smile. "Tell you what, the woods aren't good for a kid your size anyways. So, do you remember where you lost your bucket?"

"No."

"Do you remember which direction you ran back here from?"

"Uh, no..."

"Do you remember anything other than the shadow being scary?"

"Well... uh... no..."

"All right then. I can go by myself then! I know what I'm looking for, so I can do it myself if you're too afraid."

"I'm not afraid!"

Link stared at the boy.

"Er, maybe a little afraid."

"Just a wee bit?"

"Yeah! Just a wee bit."

Link smiled gently, "Maybe you should stay here to tell people where I've gone?"

"Yeah! I'll do that! It's an important job too, right?" as soon as Link had offered the out, the boy jumped all over it. Link couldn't help but give an exasperated grin.

"Yup. So, I'll go look for the bucket, and you stay here."

"Okay! Just be careful of the big and scary thing!"

"Big and scary thing, got it," Link waved as he turned around, hard put not to break out in laughter at the youngster's antics. As he stepped into the woods, the little boy stared after him. Then, he let out a shudder and returned to safer pastures.

X X X

Light permeated the depths of the woods as the lone male traversed deeper into the woods. At first he checked all the normal places for younger, braver Kokiri, but couldn't find anything that looked remotely scary. Because of the overcast day, the shadows were fuzzy and hard to discern, making his search all the more difficult. As he wound his way through the trees and bushes of the forest, he also kept in mind his goal from yesterday, to find the spiritual stone of the forest to bring to the festival at castle town. He figured that, hey, he might as well get two birds with one stone.

Along the way he met a few scrubs. After politely asking if they knew anything about the bucket or a big scary thing, he managed to get a reply.

"Sqeeaa? Big and scary? I heard there was something big and scary in the deep woods."

"Oh, very big and scary! Yes!"

"But Kokiri don't go into the deep woods. Surely it can't be there."

"No it should not. No!"

"Yeah you're right. Well, good luck Kokiri!" The deku squeaked before trundling off. Link thanked them and left also, heading for the only place that he hadn't really checked yet.

The deep woods.

The transition to the deep woods seemed gradual at first, the forest's trees slowly getting larger as time went on. Then, after he made his way through a particularly large bush, the change was instantaneous. Once again he found himself amongst misty trunks larger than he could reach around, taller than he could see, and silent as a grave. Not a sound was made as he slowly crept forwards, eyes darting amongst the trees as light filtered ominously through the unseen canopy above. Dead, damp leaves were trod on without more than an gentle whoosh of air escaping unnoticed for every step he took. Link, his gaze sweeping over the otherworldly scenery, let out a small sigh of relief. _This_ was home. His terrain, where few, if any, of the other Kokiri ever roamed. If he was going to find the spiritual stone anywhere, it would probably be here.

As he searched high and low, Link realized that, as likely as he was to find the spiritual stone here, the other kid's bucket probably was back the way he came. Still, he continued, at least for a bit. The forest was a strange place, almost a sentient entity that changed the path one walked. As if the forest could move, the path you walked one day might never be the same again. Reality itself appeared to distort at the will of the woods. It was why it was so easy for foreigners to get lost. However, as a denizen of the forest, it would not seek to strangle him in its depths. Instead, if he so chose, he could leave, turn around, and be back where he wanted soon enough.

More than just a denizen, Link was a Kokiri. The forest, mysteriously, seemed to favour its children above all others in its depths.

"Big and scary. I'm looking for something that could cast a big and scary shadow," he spoke aloud, more to himself than anyone else. The oppressive mists of the deep woods did not answer back, silence his only companion. As he wandered, Link found little that could provide him an answer. He was nearly to the point of turning back when a thicket caught his eye. Gnarled, treacherous brambles snaked around each other, curving into a wide tunnel that let no light into its depths.

Link smiled. Was there a grove hidden in there? If so, those twisted plants would be perfect for a shadow to scare the daylights out of any Kokiri! As such, he entered the tunnel without a second thought.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. He kept going, deeper and deeper, until the tunnel started a slow slope upwards. Dead twigs, or what he assumed were twigs anyways, snapped underfoot. When he finally exited the tunnel, a deathly stillness had gripped the trees. It was a wide clearing that met his gaze, pale grass carpeting the ground as the thorny vines weaved intricately around, cutting it off from the outside. The tunnel was the only way in and out it seemed. However, as Link entered, he saw no trees likely to cast the shadow he sought. He sighed, scratching his head in frustration.

A twig snapped behind him.

"_What fool dares enter the lair of Bloodclaw, alpha of the brutal woods_..."

Link stiffened, turning around. Directly behind him was something borne of nightmare. The Kokiri had seen wolfos before. He'd seen the occasional horse, too, by the path the outsiders took.

He had never before seen something quite like this.

The wolfos stood, staring down, literally, at the small boy in front of him. The intimidating monster was the size of a war steed and twice as threatening, large fangs reflecting the glow of his eyes onto a large scar running down one side of the beast's face, one of the glowing orbs having barely been missed by whatever has caused the wound. Shaggy, silver fur, stained brown and green in some places, did little to hide the rippling muscles and oversized, sword-like claws protruding from his massive paws. The claws, unlike normal wolfos, were not white, but a brick red, whether from a birth trait or having been stained by... something, something Link would really prefer not to dwell on at the moment.

Link gulped, but smiled apologetically as best as he could. "O-Oh, s-sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

The wolfos glared, then began circling. "And yet, you _did._"

"My m-most sincere apologies, great Bloodclaw!" Link bowed, his knees shaking slightly. This was not a friendly beast, he thought. And the moment he looked up, his suspicions were confirmed as it growled, putting a paw on either side of him and trapping him beneath his jaws and the ground.

"_Were you not a Kokiri I would DEVOUR you where you stand, intruder_!" he roared. Link fell backwards, scrambling backwards before getting back to his feet.

"S-sorry, I was just looking for something, it isn't here so I shall be going! You won't hear anymore of me!" Link yelped. He made to run to the entrance, but two red talons caught him and threw him to the ground in the centre of the clearing.

"I am _not _finished with you yet, whelp!"

Although the gesture was meant more as a dominance tactic, it left Link winded and probably bruised. Considering the the wolfos was in charge of the situation, Link decided to do things his way. Dredging up memory from his previous experience with wolfos, he stayed on the ground where he'd landed, staying on his back where the beast could see his belly. A motion of submission.

"Y-yes sir! Sorry!"

The wolfos chuffed, confidently padding towards the green clad child. "You do realize I could swallow you in one gulp, boy?"

"Hah hah, yeah. Although I'd prefer you not, if you wouldn't mind, sir," Link giggled nervously.

"Hmmph. You seem unusually courageous for your ilk. Tell me..." growled the wolfos as he lay down near Link, "why is one such as yourself so deep into the woods?"

"Ah, that," Link replied sheepishly, "well, honestly... one of the other kids came into the Lost Woods and lost something of his after he saw a scary shadow of something, so... I kinda came in for him looking for the biggest, scariest thing I could find, so I could get his bucket back!"

This caught the beast aback. The wolfos went utterly quite, its brows knotted together in utter disbelief, "So you came into the woods... to look for the biggest, scariest thing you could, all to find... a bucket...?"

Link looked up at the wolfos and simply nodded.

"You are either the bravest, or the dumbest, Kokiri I've ever heard of."

"Little bit of both I think. I certainly did find big and scary though!" Link laughed.

Bloodclaw's tail twitched ever so slightly, perhaps in pride, before the wolfos shook his head resignedly, "Very well. If that is all..."

"I'll be gone before you know it, mister! Sorry again for-!" Link began, rolling over and making to leave. But he was interrupted by the beast's claws once again, although this time they were more gentle, simply raking the Kokiri back towards the creature.

"Hmph. Not so fast, little pup!" Bloodclaw rumbled. "I am curious now. Not many little ones come into my abode, especially not so boldly. I have just filled my belly not long ago, and I am now bored. Perhaps I shall accompany you?" The wolfos brought himself back to his feet, staring down at Link once more. "Kokiri are sacred in this forest, after all, and you are very much deeper than you should be. I will take you back, and perhaps, if I am content enough, I will help you find that which you seek."

Link gulped, then grudgingly agreed to the offer, "Okay, uhm, thanks...?"

"Let us be off."

Without further ado, the gigantic wolf surged forwards, Link having to jog to follow behind it. Even though he was walking, the size difference was so vast that the Kokiri was hard put to keep up. As the pair traversed the woods, Bloodclaw would occasionally stop to sniff the scenery, and once or twice his great head snapped to the side at some unheard sound. Link followed obediently behind, silent as the beast ahead of him. Slowly they made their way back to the main groves of the Lost Woods. At one point, just at the transition to the deep woods, Bloodclaw looked back at Link.

"Hold."

Link stopped immediately, glancing up curiously at the big beast. He let out a yelp when the wolfos' great nose was suddenly shoved into his stomach. As Link fell over backwards, Bloodclaw sniffed him, then lifted his nose and smelled the air around them.

"I smell the trail of a Kokiri from about a day ago. But it is not you," he said.

Link pulled himself to his feet, brushing off some dirt as he did so. "It's a little deeper than usual I guess. Not many Kokiri go into the woods so far, it might be his."

"The trail is within the regular depths of the Lost Woods, beyond the border into the deep woods."

"Sounds about right," Link remarked.

The wolfos nodded, "Then we shall follow."

Bloodclaw began to sniff the air again, breaking into a trot as he followed the scent. Link was forced to run after him. Eventually they came to a stop in another clearing, a few trees dotted here and there.

"There is a scent of fear here," stated Bloodclaw.

Link looked around the clearing, taking in the sight. Numerous bushes huddled together amongst the trees, some berries peeping out here and there. Large amounts of light illuminated the ragged bark of the trees, one of which was particularly stunted and gnarled.

"Looks promising. Thanks Bloodclaw!" Link grinned. He wandered into the clearing, glancing about for any clues while the wolfos stayed behind, hidden in the foliage. As he looked up at the gnarled tree, it suddenly hit him. He looked down at a bucket, hidden among the grass at the thing's roots, before smacking his face with his palm. Link the leaned down and picked up the bucket.

"Of all the things... a tree..."

"Hey!"

While he was crouched, a nearby tree rustled. Something dropped from its branches, but before Link could see what Bloodclaw had pounced. Link was knocked down and a resounding shriek went up from whatever had tried to come down from the branches. When Link looked up, he saw Bloodclaw snarling and snapping as a familiar face stared down, terrified, at the humongous Wolfos mere feet below his precarious perch on the gnarled tree.

"Eek!"

"Another child of the forest! But a Skull Kid this time! Too bad for you we wolfos do not have the same inhibitions for your spawn that we do for the Kokiri!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEPP! DON'T EAT MEEEEEEEE! EEEEEEK!"

"Uh, Mr. Bloodclaw sir! Please don't eat him!" Link yelled. The wolfos ceased his attack to look over at Link ponderously.

"Why ever not? He has tried to ambush you!"

"He's kinda my friend, actually. Sorry if he startled you." Link smiled. Bloodclaw gave one last growl in the direction of the Skull Kid, whose wide eyes glanced down at the Kokiri.

"Bloody, holy Din! Wherever did you find such a monster Link!" Stall yelped, the poor skull kid still trembling from his near-death encounter.

Bloodclaw gave Stall a pointed glare, "This one is an ally of yours?"

Stall piped up before Link could even respond properly, "Yeah! Link and I are friends! See! He made me a slingshot!" the Skull Kid happily brought out his treasured slingshot, his previous terror (almost) completely forgotten as he smiled and proudly displayed the weapon.

"Yeah, we are good friends," Link replied.

The wolfos stayed silent for a moment, the turned to Stall, "You have yourself a very good ally then. Brave, loyal, quiet, and follows orders well. Hmm, and speaks up only when necessary." Bloodclaw switched his gaze to Link, "too bad you were not born a wolfos."

Link blushed at the compliment, kicking his heels. "Heh, thanks..."

"I will admit. I enjoyed myself today. I felt like I had a good pack with me, something which has not happened in a while. Even other wolfos fear me," rumbled the giant, a sorrowful hint to his growls.

"Well, I would love to go around with you again sometime!" Link grinned. He gingerly patted the wolfos' flanks. "I certainly felt protected with you around!"

"We shall be pack-mates, then. If you so wish," responded the wolf.

"Sure! Pack-mates, allies, friends, whatever you wanna call it. Nice to meet you!"

"And the same to you. Now, I shall retire for the night. May we meet again!"

The wolfos left the clearing, silently disappearing into the trees. His silver tail flashed one time before flicking into the shadows of the forest. Link and Stall were quiet for some time afterwards. Neither said anything until long after the birds had begun to sing once more, cheery ballads echoing through the woods.

"...You make the weirdest friends." Stall said.

"You're one to talk."

The two glanced at each other before breaking out into laughter. Most of it was simply jubilant, but Stall's giggles were filled with as much relief as they were mirth. The laughs died down, Stall's expression suddenly reflecting confusion.

"How did you meet that guy anyways?"

Link grinned, then explained his adventures to the Skull Kid. Stall laughed some more after the Kokiri had finished. "So you found him... because you were looking for a bucket? A _bucket_! Ahahahaha!"

Link guffawed a bit as well, before an idea stopped him. "Hey! Stall! You said you liked bottles at one point, right?"

"Bottles? Yes! Bottles! What about bottles!?" he asked excitedly.

Link fished around in his pouch, a magical storage sack given to all kokiri by the tree, and took out the bottle he'd earned from helping the cuccoo lady. "Look what I got!"

Stall was immediately enraptured, his finger hovering just above the crystalline surface. "Oooooohh... woooww!" he gasped. The Stall kid looked jealously at Link, then back to the bottle, "You really scored! Look! It's even got protection runes engraved!"

"Protection runes?"

"Yeah! All good bottles have runes on them so they don't break! Oh! I've always wanted one of these!" the Skull kid's voice quivered. He looked to Link, to the bottle, to the trees around them, and then back to Link. A slightly malicious, mischievous glint was in his eyes at first, but when his eyes settled back to Link he sighed, as if resigning himself and dismissing an idea he knew he couldn't pull through with. "Wow... you're so lucky..."

Link looked at the sad expression on his friend's face, the sorrow reflecting onto his own somewhat. He didn't like seeing his friends upset... then an idea hit him, and he grinned, "Hey, Stall! I know I found the bucket, but did you know I was looking for something else too?"

"Oh... Oh? Yeah?" replied Stall, snapping himself out of his bottle-induced reverie.

"Well, I'm looking for something called a 'spiritual stone'. I think it might be gold and have some other gems on it, and it's somewhere in the forest. But... I don't know where to look! So! If you can help me find the stone, I'll give ya the bottle! Sound good?"

At first, Link expected the Skull Kid to be all over the offer. But instead, Stall had gained an expression of worry and consternation. Concern crossed is features, Stall clacking his beak in frustration as his mind was toiling feverishly over something.

"A... A golden... a spiritual stone...?"

"Yeah! Maybe it has green on it too! I think it might. It's supposed to represent the forest, and the forest _is_ pretty green..."

"Oh! Gold! And green! And shiny! So pretty and shiny" Stall cried, clutching his head.

Link didn't notice, "Shiny? Yeah, come to think of it, those other spiritual stones were pretty shiny..."

"Stay here!" Stall yelled suddenly, dashing off into the trees. Link was taken aback, but decided to obey his friend's request. He waited for quite some time, then after a while sat down by the tree. He continued to wait even as evening shadows appeared, then began to lengthen. A slight drizzle began.

Link was starting to worry when Stall suddenly appeared out of nowhere, fidgeting and clutching something behind his back. Link was confused at his hesitant state.

"Hey! You okay?"

Stall looked up sheepishly at the Kokiri, then looked back down at the ground, ashamed.

"...I stole it."

"Huh?"

"The spiritual stone of the forest... I... a long time ago, I stole it." Stall muttered.

Link's eyebrows shot up. "What! You stole it!? From who?"

"The.. the Deku tree. I've always wanted a bottle, you see. They're so shiny, and pretty, and so useful... And then I saw it, one day. The stone. I saw the Deku tree, and he had the stone. So when he was asleep one night, I took it. I couldn't help it! It was so beautiful!" Stall sniffed, then held out, to Link, what was one of the prettiest things he'd seen in his life. Gentle curving gold, shining in the evening light, reflected colours from the large emerald held in the centre of the artistic piece.

"I should never have taken it. I'm sorry! I did something so mean, and the Kokiri are so nice, this should belong to them and the Deku tree..."

Link stared down at the stone, then took it gently from Stall. He held it for a moment, then adjusted his grip and offered the bottle to Stall.

"Here!" he grinned.

Stall's eyes widened larger than Link had thought would be possible. "But... it's my fault, I stole it-"

"And I said I'd give you this if you helped me find it! And you did! So this is yours!"

The skull kid looked down at the bottle, taking it gingerly before his gaze went back the Link. Tears were in his eyes. "You... _sniff_... you... you are the best... the best friend _ever_!" With that he broke into tears, grabbing Link and hugging with all the ferocity he could muster.

Link gasped for a moment, then accepted the hug, "It's just the right thing to do, ya know? You're a good friend too Stall."

"I've... I've never... I've never had such a good friend... for such a long time... _sniff_... bwaaaaa! Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Heh, no worries." Link grinned. They broke the hug, Stall still snuffling and rubbing his eyes, his precious bottle held protectively.

"Well, why don't you go have fun with that, Stall? I'm probably gonna have to go home pretty soon anyways." Link suggested

Stall didn't need any second bidding. "Yeah! That's a great idea! Thank you thank you!" THANK! YOU! Waaaahhhoooooooooo!" The Skull Kid shot off into the woods, whooping happily. Link grinned and shook his head, leaving the clearing and heading back home.

It took a long time. Dusk was setting in when he finally made it home. He dropped in to see the Great Deku Tree, remaining silent as the tail end of a story was being told.

"...And so the demon was stopped by the hero, the foul moon dissipating with the monster's last breath."

Link smirked, that story was one of his favourites if he recalled. The Great Deku Tree finished the tale, something about a festival, before his audience left the clearing. A few waved to Link as they passed. Link stayed behind until it was just him and Saria left. The two looked at each other, nodded, and Saria left.

As Link rounded himself to face the Deku Tree, the large being's branches rustled invitingly. "Ah, thou hast returned. Hast the day been bountiful?"

"Most certainly, Great Deku Tree!" Link smiled. He brought out the spiritual stone of the forest, displaying it for the tree to see. "It was returned to me by the one who stole it. He was really sorry about it, too."

"I fretted not over it, for I knew, in the forest, it would always be safe. Thou hast done a wonderful job, retrieving the emerald so swiftly. But the day is late. Thou should rest, and continue thy quest upon the morrow."

"Thank you, Great Deku Tree!" Link bowed, then left the clearing, the Kokiri Emerald held firmly in his grasp.

And that night, Link slept soundly, no nightmares plaguing the boy's sleep. His calm rest went undisturbed, untroubled by nothing, not even the pounding rain outside. The storm, like the world outside, was unable to penetrate the barrier that was the forest.


	6. Youth VI

Happy new years everyone! Er, a belated one anyways. And, uh, a consolation for back to school as well? I dunno. Sorry for the wait on this chapter, I've had a bit of a writer's block *cough*streakoflaziness*cough* and haven't written any chapters for a few months. For ANY of my fics. So, without further ado-!

X

Link yawned widely as he woke, a pre-dawn glow seeping through his window in the chill morning air. A good night's sleep had left him refreshed, ready for today's mission. To finally deliver the spiritual stone of the forest to the Castle Town festival!

Eager to start his quest for the day, Link raced around packing necessities for the trip. Some snacks, his sword and shield, and a few other things such as his slingshot and a healthy supply of ammo. And, of course, the spiritual stone. Then, as he was ready to leave, he remembered something else. His chores. Link grunted in annoyance. Well, better get those done quick. He ran, grabbed his tools, and jumped off his treehouse. The sooner he got them done, after all, the sooner he could be off.

Having completed his chores in record time, albeit a little messily, Link rushed to put away the tools. A few more of the kokiri had awoken by this point, watching in either confusion or amusement as the normally quiet blonde raced towards the lost woods, eagerness practically radiating from his hurried form.

Today was a day no one would forget.

X

Link hurried through the woods. Despite his fast pace he made only the tiniest of sounds, the occasional rustle of a leaf or splash of soft, sodden loam. He knew he was being incredibly sloppy today in regards to how much noise he was making, but until he reached the path to Castle Town, it wouldn't much matter. He knew he was a bit slower on foot than Kieri had been, and had to do whatever he could to make up for it.

Apart from when he left the forest, he expected nothing eventful to occur. Nothing really bothered Kokiri, after all. So it was with a little surprise that he noticed something rather odd while travelling beside the path.

A miniscule white creature with a feather for a tail was stuck, struggling, upside down in a bush. It seemed that something had startled the small creature, and in its haste to escape it had caught itself between the fork of a branch. He noticed it was wearing blue robes or something, which was strange. Weren't clothes only for Stall kids, kokiri and humanoids? Link stayed still for a moment, then shrugged.

"Need a hand there, little guy?" he asked. As he did, he leaned down, plucking the creature from the branch.

A surprised squeak arose, then faded as the little thing regained its composure. What Link hadn't expected from something so small and mouse-like, however, was a response.

"I don't need your assistance, brat!"

Link raised an eyebrow at its imperious tone, then snorted, "Well, I'm helping anyways. Too bad."

As he placed the huffy little thing on a nearby branch, Link mused at the thing's attitude. He'd come across its type plenty of times before. Proud people who were often too egotistical to accept help when they should. Nonetheless, those that needed help needed it no matter who they were, and he wasn't about to turn them down for something as petty as a little attitude.

"I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself! Just because some stupid weasel chases me... uh, hey, w-where are you going?!"

"You said you could take care of yourself, right? Well I got you unstuck, you should be fine now," Link stated, sauntering off down the nearby path.

"How dare you treat me like that and then just walk away! You have no idea whore you're dealing with! I am a powerful sorcerer-!"

"Then how come you couldn't 'sorcerer' your way outta a little branch, huh?" Link grinned cheekily. That took the white mouse-thing by surprise, and it started shuffling and grumbling rather comically in outrage.

"W-well, of course I could, er, well I used to be able to, but that doesn't matter! Just because Minish magic only works when helping others, I mean, it used to be different and I could do what I wanted, but I used to be a great sorcerer and...!"

"You _used_ to be a great sorceror? How can you 'used to be' a sorcerer?"

"Not important! J-just go away!" the minish shrieked. He turned around and huffed. Link shrugged again and returned to the path. The minish was quiet, then dashed after the kokiri. "Hold on. Why are you walking along the path, kokiri brat? You aren't intending to leave the forest, are you?"

"The name is 'Link', not brat, and yes, I am leaving the forest! The Great Deku Tree gave me an important job to do!"

"Link!" hissed the minish. The blonde was momentarily taken aback by the anger behind the minish's voice, stopping to turn around and look at him curiously.

"Yes? Did you want something?"

The minish coughed, clearing his throat as if he hadn't mentioned the boy's name earlier. He seemed deep in thought for a moment (although it was hard to see, the minish being so small) and then giggled under his breath. Link couldn't help but find the noise a little eerie. "Actually, yes, I do have something." He swallowed, presumably forcing down his pride for whatever he was about to ask. "I, ah, part of my problem with losing my sorcereor power is... well, I haven't been able to get the ingredients I need for a spell to get them back. And, ah... ugh, I..." whatever he was saying spiralled down into indecipherable mutters, but Link could have sworn he heard 'get over yourself you buffoon' and 'no doubt he's as naive as his other incarnations, it won't hurt'. Link knew the minish was probably talking to himself at this point, but patiently waited for whatever the little thing was going to say.

It was a minute later that the little pale thing was finally able to get the courage to ask, "I was wondering if I could come with you. I need to go to castle town, and if you could get me close to it-"

"Great, that's exactly where I was going to! Sure, I'll give you a ride!" Link smiled, without further ado he scooped up the minish and deftly placed him onto his hat. He figure it's be the most comfortable place because of all the folds he could squirm into.

Apart from an indignant squeak, the minish stayed silent. Apparently he felt the same way Link did because he stayed relatively quiet after that. The morning passed in peace once more, and apart from breaking the tree cover onto Hyrule field once more, nothing eventful really happened. Link stopped to view the field, but before long he returned to his previous pace, a swift jog across the grasses invading the trail.

However, Link's travelling companion seemed less than happy about their circumstances. "It's already midday! We'll never make it to the town before nightfall at this rate!"

"I'm trying, little guy, but if I run any faster I'll be too tired by the time I get there!" Link replied.

"It's 'Vaati', you imbecilic runt"

Link stopped and looked up at the rim of his hat where the minish's blood-red eyes glared at him from an upside-down position. "Vaati? That's an interesting name."

The eyes widened. "F-forget I said it. I'd rather not let people know I'm running about. Er, anyways, we need to move faster."

"Why? I think I can outrun stalchildren if we come across any at night." Link told him. He'd thought about the small, walking bone piles since he'd first seen them, and really, as long as he wasn't too tired he probably _could_ outpace their shambling gait.

"Castle Town's gates close at night you brat. Can't outrun enemies if there's nowhere to run _to_," Vaati snapped back.

Link was silent. That was a good point...

"Well, it's time I put some of my magic to good use. I'm going rusty, really. Ah... hmm, how fast can you run at top speed? Fast?"

"Pretty fast, yeah. But I'll get tired if I run for too long."

"No you won't. "

Link noticed a strange tingling sensation run throughout his body, making him feel loose and relaxed. He raised an eyebrow.

"See? There. Now you won't get tired. It's a tough spell to keep up, normally, but it's easy enough for someone of my prowess! Now get moving, we haven't got all day!"

Link grinned a little at Vaati's blunt command, but humoured his friend and began running as fast as he could. The trip across the field went quickly, Link's legs flying over the grass from his incredibly speed. Several times they had to dodge around caravans and other travellers, but no one who noticed the green blur saw it long enough to figure out what it was. They only stopped their pace once to eat some of the food Link had brought with him. Vaati seemed appreciative for the break, the pale minish's breaths ragged and wheezing as the two had their rest.

"You okay?" Link asked.

"Fine. Just rusty. Perfectly fine! You're fast," came the rather short response.

Link grinned, "I'm the fastest kokiri in the woods! Not that I've run top speed for this long before, but..."

"Eh. Fine. Keep moving."

And that's when their break ended.

Mid afternoon was warm on their backs when they finally found themselves at Castle Town's gates, festival flags draping down as lively music echoed through the air. Link grinned, trotting happily into the town.

"I can't believe it. I'm finally here! All those years of being too small to cross that goddess danged-!"

"Language, Vaati."Link chided.

"Shh!" Vaati squealed, panic in his voice. He dropped in front of Link's face before clambering up his bangs and under his hat. "Keep quiet! I have enemies here! Don't let them know I'm here!"

"Why would you come here if you have enemies?" Link pondered to the minish.

Vaati grumbled to himself for a moment before answering, "Because... well, this is the only place to get those ingredients I mentioned earlier, and I _really _need them..."

"Well, I'm here 'cause I've got to drop something off. But, afterwards, did you want me to help you?"

"...fine... you probably can't speak Hylian anyways, so, uh, I'll help you translate if need be."

Link grinned, "Sure, thanks!"

"Yeah yeah, don't mention it," muttered the minish, "really. I mean it. Don't."

The pair continued on their way, Link smiling at everyone who looked at him. He helped the cucco lady yet again, but other than that received no interruption on his way to where the other stones were. Unfortunately, it seemed that he wasn't the only one there. A large crowd, very much like the one he'd seen there before, was gathered around the stones. Vaati popped out from under the hat when he heard Link's groan.

"That's going to be fun trying to get through.."

"I won't be able to! Not without being seen, and The Great Deku Tree doesn't want me being spotted! But if I try now-"

"-You'll be seen for sure. Hmm. Troublesome. If only, if only..." sighed the minish. Then he looked around before returning to his hiding spot. "Sorry buddy, no way through or around that lot. Best wait until nightfall, the most you'd have to do then is sneak around a couple of guards."

"But the gates are closed at night! How would I get back home?" Linked questioned worriedly.

Vaati snorted. "Wait until morning, duh."

"Oh. Well, I guess I could, but..."

"What, you've never stayed up all night before?"

"Uh, no, but that's not the point! I have to check in with the Great Deku Tree every night!"

"He sent you on a mission, it won't hurt him to wait a day for you to check in, you little pansy. In fact, he's probably expecting something like this to happen," the minish snorted.

"Really?"

"I don't know. But if he didn't expect it then he should have. Come on, we're wasting time here. How about we, ah, go find some of those ingredients of mine in the meantime?"

"I guess so," Link replied meekly.

"Atta boy! Off we go!"

With that Link turned around, giving the spiritual stones already on the pedestal one last look before walking back into the main square.

From his perch on Link's head, Vaati steered the kokiri with either verbal barbs or tugs on his hair, directing him wherever the minish wanted him to go. Sometimes he'd make Link stop and wait while he ran off somewhere, leaving the boy standing uncomfortably for several minutes before returning. He never told Link what he was up to every time he disappeared, making the poor kokiri wonder about his methods and just _how_ he was getting his ingredients. Nevertheless, Link reasoned, whatever the minish was taking must have been in such small amounts that it'd never be noticed. Only once did it take any severe length of time for the minish to return. Link didn't know whether to laugh or be worried at the flustered albino's disarrayed appearance. The two exchanged a look before Vaati huffed out a single sentence and returned to his hiding spot.

"Bloody cats."

A giggle from Link, and the two continued their work, waiting for night to fall.

X

As calm evening sunlight filtered into the Great Deku Tree's clearing, the ancient monolith of wood suddenly snapped to attention. Worried eyes shifted to the atmosphere above, having sensed a shift in the world's balance. Broad green leaves rustles in agitation as the tree's bark creased in worry, cracks and groans seeping out from the aged wood. The whole word had gone silent, as if it had overheard a shocking secret and didn't wish to be discovered. Tense minutes passed, motes of dust floating to the ground, glinting innocently even as the wind blew them about callously. Quietly.

A rustle.

Kieri dashed into the clearing, looking up the the tree in concern. "Link. Where is Link?!"

"Doubtless he is on his quest. Why? What ails thee?"

"The enemy has moved. They're headed to Castle Town as we speak."

The Great Deku Tree rustled nervously, "Why proclaim this if thou keatons are not our allies?"

"Maybe we aren't, but I like that kit a lot. I mean, a LOT. And if there's any possibility he was headed there..."

"Say no more," twisting his branches, the great wooden guardian grunted in effort, a snap echoing from overhead. A small, gnarled branch fell down in front of the female keaton, "Accept this pardon to gain passage through the woods unharmed. The boy must be brought back to safety, immediately!"

Kieri wasted no time, grabbing the branch with her teeth and sprinting out of the clearing. Behind her the great tree roared to the sky, leaves falling as light as feathers in the wind.

"Lost Woods, hear my cry! Prepare thy twisting vines and thorns, arouse thy sleeping beasts and wards! The time for battle has come!"

X

Foliage and branches flew by, twigs snapping underfoot and loam flung into the air as the golden fox raced through the woods. Panting heavily, she twisted, turned and slid as fast as her body would allow around roots, trunks and other thorny obstacles in her path. The branch in her jaws snagged on bushes and weighed her down, but she held onto it grimly and carried on as best as she could. She knew she was creating a ruckus of noise, something no sane keaton should have done. She also knew there were those that didn't like keatons like her, but at the moment she couldn't have cared less, her concerns entirely occupied by getting to Castle Town as fast as possible.

If she hadn't been so distracted, she might have noticed something following her the moment more crashing sounded behind here. But as it was, she only had moments to hear the noise and register a threat before it was too late.

A wolfos leaped through the dense underbrush and sent her flying with a swipe of its claws, the female keaton smashing and rolling against the forest floor. Before the wolfos could complete the kill she hollered.

"Parley! Truce! Let me speak!"

Just in time, her attacker slid to a halt, kicking up dirt and leaves. Kieri's eyes shot open, her three tails instantly brought to her belly at the size of the beast that had hit her. Heavens forbid, she was lucky to be alive if that's what had been attacking her!

The hulking brute leaned down, glaring at her with glowing eyes before sniffing at the branch she held tightly. "This had better not be another trick, keaton wretch! If I find that this sacred branch you bear was stolen...!"

"T'was not! My apologies, but I am sent on a mission by the Great Deku Tree to rescue a child of the woods. The boy, Link, he had a quest in Castle Town, and I must go with all haste-!"

"Link!?"

Kieri quieted down immediately at the roar she received. The wolfos, the scar on his snout wrinkled with anger and concern, stared down at her.

"Answer! Link is the brave one with blonde hair, correct?"

"Yes!" Kieri stood on her feet slowly, returning the Wolfos's glares with submissive glances, "He's a special kokiri, a very good boy, I know him well. But now he's in danger and I need to go help him. Please, let me leave!" she panted, adrenaline pumping througb her lithe body even as she struggled to regain her breath from her earlier running.

"You are not lying, I smell him upon you, though faint. No, keaton. I will not be letting you go."

"What! But I need to-!"

A growl from the wolfos silenced her immediately. "You keatons are not god at running long distances. I can smell the fatigue on you already, pathetic fox! No. Link, the kokiri, is a pack-mate of mine. As alpha of our group, I, Bloodclaw, am responsible for keeping my pack-mate safe!" Looking to the sky, Bloodclaw snorted, "I will arrive under the cover of darkness. You, keaton, must contact your allies in Castle Town and have them get the boy ready outside the castle gates by nightfall."

"Uh..." Kieri stuttered, unsure of how to respond to the situation. She composed herself remarkably well, however, and responded dutifully, "Of source, Bloodclaw. We can keep the boy safe in castle town, and when night falls we shall sneak him over the walls and guard him until you arrive." She offered the branch in her jaws to the wolfos, "You can take this, so no one bothers you on your way out."

"Pah! You need that much more than I do, _keaton_. Anyone foolish enough to attack me shall fill my belly!" And with that he ran off, his large form barrelling through all obstacles in his path.

Kieri took off in her own direction shortly afterwards.

X

Link and Vaati had snuck back to the shrine for the spiritual stones just before night fell, and were currently hiding in a nearby hedge. The rays of dusk glinted off a deep red ruby, glorious sapphires and regally decorative gold. Guards nearby watched for suspicious people, their eyes glued to every person that walked in their vicinity.

"Well, this might be a bit tricky," Vaati complained.

"It's okay, I've just got to sneak around behind them, not get seen, and drop off the stone before they spot me. Can't be too bad, right?" Link grinned meekly.

Vaati stared at him.

Link frowned, "Okay, maybe a little hard, but... I'm good at sneaking! Honest!"

"Only when there's an unhealthy amount of foliage around. Unfortunately for you, there's nothing between this hedge and the table. So, what are you going to do now?"

Link thought about it for a while, mulling over a few ideas in his head. "Well, if I could find something to distract them, I might be able to get past. But, only thing I could think of would be another of that lady's cuccos..."

"Or, there's something else we could try..." Vaati giggled mischievously. Link looked up, only to see the minish clambering down his shirt and jumping to the ground. "Besides, I haven't been able to torment the guards in ages! This oughta be fun!"

"Fun? What's going to be fun?" Link questioned, only to get his answer when Vaati dashed in front of once of the guards, the one whose gaze had been skittering back and forth more than the other one.

Said guard looked down when a small, blue and white mouse thing tapped his armoured boot and grinned up at him. At first, the guard was stunned, not knowing what to think of it. Then-

"SQUEAK!"

Vaati threw up his arms and smiled maliciously, yelling at the top of his tiny lungs. The guard jumped a full foot in the air despite his armour.

"Aaaaaaaaaauuuuugh! A mouse a mouse a mouse!"

This made the other guard jump, "A what!?"

"A mouse! And it just told me 'squeak'! Mice don't do that! Waaaaaaaaah!"

"Of course they do you idiot, they're mice! Where is it!"

By this point, Vaati had already began running in and around the guards feet, the guards themselves yelling and shrieking and bickering at one another as they danced to try and avoid the 'mouse' tormenting them beneath their feet. Link had already gotten up to the table by this point, and was back to the hedges sans one spiritual stone when the guards finally wizened up.

"Good heavens George, it was only a mouse."

"It was not. Mice don't wear clothes!"

"You are _such _a baby."

"The term is 'kid at heart', thank you very- uh, Fred?"

"Yeah?"

Both guards turned to look at the table.

"...When did that get there?"

Whatever came next was lost upon Link and Vaati as the pair left the area, snickering to each other at their success. It wasn't until the accomplices had run into an alley, far from the shrine area, before they both burst out laughing.

"Did you see that-"

"I love it when you did-"

"That was so awesome-"

"Booyah, baby! Whooh!"

Link and Vaati both did a happy dance, giggling and hopping around, their enthusiasm too much to keep still.

"Well, I guess that means I'm finally done my mission!" Link grinned

"And I sure got a lot more done than I've managed in ages!" responded Vaati.

The pair finally winded down, noticing where they were in a dark alley. Vaati wisely vacated back to Link's hat for safety, but Link himself didn't notice. He remembered this particular alley, and decided to walk down it to see if he could spot a familiar face.

"Oh? You know where we're going?"

"Yeah, I know someone who was here just the other day."

But as Link rounded a corner and saw the stables, he sighed unhappily. Volgavia's stable was empty, only burnt straw and brimstone evidencing the fact she was ever there.

"Oh, I guess she's gone already," Link pouted

"Who?" came the minish's inquisitive squeak.

"Oh, a dragon I met the other day. Hmm, well, we could sleep here for the night maybe, no one else is in here I guess."

As Link hopped the fence to the enclosure, Vaati sniffed around, eyes wide. "Wait, a dragon? What kind of dragon?" His voice had taken an oddly subdued, serious tone.

"Uh, didn't know there were different kinds. Hmm, let's see, she was long and red and... ouch!" Link, after having tried to sit down, had stood up again quite abruptly. He looked at where he'd been sitting, sifting aside a few pieces of straw to find out whatever the sharp thing he'd tried to sit on was. He came up with a diamond-shaped, curved scale that was hot to the touch and glowed like an ember.

Vaati stared.

"Your friend was a lava dragon, I think..."

"Oh, makes sense," Link grinned.

The minish piped up, "Uh, Link..."

"Yeah?"

"M-mind if I have that, please?"

Link looked to his friend, whose eyes were wide and tiny little claws were twitching as if ready to grab the scale and throttle anything in his way. Politely, of course.

"Yeah, sure, I don't need it."

The small minish suddenly jumped at the scale, grabbing the fingernail-sized object and stuffing it into a pouch, which disappeared under his robes as quickly as it had appeared. Soon enough he was running back to Link's protective cap. The kokiri himself was settling down for the night, warm from some other scales he'd spotted just a moment earlier. About a minute passed in silence when some more straw near the fence rustled, and a silvery voice spoke up.

"Ah, is that a little kokiri? Hmm hmm hmm!"

Link, whose eyes had started to droop, sprang back to attention, drawing his sword and pointing it at the newcomer. It was quickly sheathed when he saw that it was a keaton.

"Don't put that away just yet, little one. Kieri called for you, it's urgent. We need to leave."

"Huh? Uh, okay, why so urgent? And how can we leave, the gates are closed?" Link got up regardless, brushing off his tunic.

"We have our ways. Come. Hurry!"

Link ran after the keaton, Vaati remaining deathly silent the whole way. Link wondered about that, but then considering Vaati's comment on how he could have enemies in Castle Town, he didn't wonder for long. They travelled to the walls around castle town. At one point Link had to let the keaton grab him by the scruff of his neck (or rather, his tunic) and stay perfectly still as the athletic fox jumped up the walls and across a few clotheslines, finally landing on the battlements far above. Two more Keatons waited on the grey, speckled wall tops, staring at their companion and his cargo.

"Is this the boy they're all talking about, Shirui?" piped up the smaller, his fur slightly less shiny of the two.

"Quiet, Corri. Now, little one, into this basket here."

Link's eyebrows shot up, but he sensed only caution and concern from the foxes and did as he was told. A lid was placed on shortly afterwards, and from the shuffling, tugging sounds, a rope secured around it soon after.

"We're going to hide you in here until it's safe to lower you over the sides, alright?" said one.

Link grunted in response. Time passed quietly, crickets chirping and the occasional clanking of a guard passing the only indicators that life continued beyond his wicker hideout. The keatons, presumably, were hiding as well. Soon enough Link felt the basket move, and slowly but surely he felt the basket pushed over the edge, spinning a little as it descended.

The moment it hit the ground, a familiar growl rang in his ears. "Stay still, pup."

Link obeyed as enormous teeth sunk into the lid of the basket, claws digging into the sides of the container and shredding it in an instant with a quick jerk. Link blinked up at Bloodclaw, his wolfos friend glancing between him and the keatons on the walltop. Hackles raised, the wolfos barked a command.

"On my back. Now."

"What? Why are you here?"

"No time for questions. It'll be faster with you on my back. Hurry up, pup!"

Link nodded, swiftly clambering up the gigantic wolfos's side as he lowered himself to the ground. Link motioned to wave at the Keatons, but found that they'd disappeared, all too eager to escape the gaze of the monstrous wolfos.

Link had no time to dwell upon this revelation as Bloodclaw lurched beneath him, Link instantly settling into the stride as the alpha barrelled his way across the moonlight plains. Panting and slobbering, the monster's paws kicking up clumps of sod and dirt as he raced towards the safe haven of the woods.

Partway through the trip, Link managed to squeeze out a quiet question, "Bloodclaw, I'm sorry, but why did you come all the way out here to get me?"

Bloodclaw remained silent, panting. Link wondered if he was going to get a response at first, but then the wolfos managed to wheeze out a response, "Danger. Puppy in danger. Taking you home."

"In danger? From what?"

"You're too young to worry about such things. Quiet. We must make it home unseen."

Link took the wolfos's advice, silencing himself despite his worry and questioning thoughts. It wouldn't do to annoy Bloodclaw, not when he was trying so hard to help remove his from some sort of danger. Instead, Link conformed his body to the monster's gait, silver fur whipping in the winds against his flanks.

Maybe it was because of the darkness of the night that deprived his eyes of any sight. Maybe it was the eerie whistling of the wind. Maybe it was that his nose, pressed against Bloodclaw's back, was filled with the scent of a predator, or maybe it was something else. But Link couldn't ignore the worry gnawing away at his heart, even if he stayed silent about it. The atmosphere itself was waiting with bated breath. No matter how hard he tried, Link couldn't push down his feelings of dread.

As it was, in the darkness of night, there was no way for link to have seen the dust cloud, smell the foul scent of the dark army, or hear their footsteps marching, thundering, across the hills towards castle town.

X

When the group hit the woods, a small figure, unbeknownst to his travelling companions, leaped off the safety of the kokiri's hat and landed in a bush, the minute rustle of his landing hidden by the crashes and panting of Link's wolfos friend as he ran into the forest's depths. After scrambling down into the forest floor, Vaati gazed around, then walked forwards into a small clearing.

In the silence of the woods, the small, forgotten figure stood contemplatively.

Vaati eyed his surroundings, red eyes glinting. Stroking his pale hair in thought, he paced, glancing every so often at where the boy disappeared.

"I suppose, really, he's not so bad when I'm not trying to make his life miserable," he suddenly declared. Looking up at the twinkling sky, he crossed his arms angrily.

"Is this what you wanted? Ezlo, you old coot! And you! You three golden goddesses! Or golden grannies, I should say! Yeah! You!" he sneered, sticking his tongue out at the air, "I get it. You want me to lift that curse of his, don't you! I'm not stupid! My day went extraordinarily well the moment I _spotted_ that _brat _of yours! Don't think I don't get what you're trying to do! Make me like him? Well screw you, I ain't that dumb! I know what you're up to!"

Spitting furiously at no one in particular, the albino minish whirled, shoulders hunched, "Fine. I can see what this is. But I WON'T lift that curse. Even if I wanted to, I can't! Not entirely. And I ain't gonna! Never will! So buzz off and leave me alone!"

Calm reigned. At least, it did, until a sudden burst of winds ripped angrily around the small clearing, threatening to dislodge Vaati from his perch on a blade of grass.

"Okay okay okay, alright okay! Stop it!"

The wind died down.

"I told you , I can't lift the curse-"

Rustle rustle.

"But I can change it. I can! Sorta! I can't get rid of it, but... I can make it better. Really!

Silence.

"But only if you let me get my powers back! I still have a few more ingredients I need, after all!"

Nothing.

Vaati glared up at the skies, waiting. Silent moments passed before he sighed.

"Gods, Vaati. You used to be a great sorcerer. And now you're talking to yourself. Oh, no, wait, to goddesses that don't even exist. Pah. No, wait, they must exist, because they freaking hate you. Yeesh. Women are so temperamental. Well, whatever guys. I'm hungry, and I'm going. Bye!"

Doing a quick 180, the white minish turned to leave, his blue robes following his movements. The sound of something falling to the ground and landing with a small thud behind him stopped the sorcerer's movements, and he turned to look.

A berry. A small berry, but quite large enough for him, had dropped down onto the forest floor. Looking around carefully for danger, then another sweep to try and find where the berry had come from, came up with negative results on both accounts.

It was a simple, small, round, juicy-looking red berry. Vaati looked at it.

"A peace offering?"

He looked at the sky, frowning slightly. Then, "No. Not just that. Okay ladies! I understand. A deal it is!"

And with that, and a small grumble to himself about how illogical this whole thing was, he picked up the berry and left.


End file.
